Encompass Health CIO Rusty Yeager and Cerner Receive 2019 CHIME Collaboration Award

PHOENIX, AZ, Nov. 5, 2019 – Imagine the letdown patients who have been released to a post-acute care facility experience when they must unexpectedly return to the hospital. Unplanned transfers from inpatient rehabilitation facilities to acute-care settings are not only inconvenient for patients, but also may be costly to post-acute care organizations, especially if they prompt a readmissions penalty from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

 

Encompass Health, one of the largest providers of post-acute healthcare services in the U.S., partnered with its electronic health records supplier Cerner Corporation®, a global health platform and innovation company, to identify patients who are at risk of an unplanned acute-care transfer. The two entities then worked to develop a tool that will quickly alert clinicians. With an early warning, clinicians can provide timely intervention and reduce the likelihood of an unplanned transfer. The results have been promising:

 

Encompass Health reported its lowest acute-care transfer rate in a decade in March 2018, while simultaneously increasing its discharge to community rate – meaning fewer patients were being sent back to acute-care facilities and more patients were returning to their homes.

 

Today the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) honored Rusty Yeager, senior vice president and CIO at Encompass Health, and Cerner with the 2019 CHIME Collaboration Award for their partnership. The award is given annually by CHIME to recognize a collaborative effort between a CIO who is a CHIME member and a CHIME Foundation firm who together offer a benefit to the healthcare IT community. The winners are given an opportunity to share their innovative collaboration and its outcomes with CHIME members for possible application in other healthcare environments.

 

“Rusty and the team at Cerner have shown that we can achieve great outcomes when providers and their industry partners work together,” said CHIME Foundation Board Chair Cletis Earle, senior vice president and CIO at Kaleida Health. “They leveraged their strong relationship to build a predictive tool that will impact patient care for years to come.”

 

“The model was created using the knowledge, skills and capabilities utilized by both organizations to not only provide enhanced care and better outcomes for patients but also to do so in a manner that achieves business success for Encompass Health,” Yeager said.

 

Inspired by the success of this project, Encompass Health and Cerner launched the Post-Acute Care Innovation Center to develop clinical decision support tools to enhance the post-acute care continuum. Their goal is to design innovations to more effectively and efficiently manage patients across multiple care settings.

 

“Working alongside Encompass Health in developing a tool to reduce acute care transfers directly aligns with our company commitment to imagine, design and implement intelligent health networks. We are proud to be recognized by CHIME for innovation and collaboration in this space,” said Adam Laskey, vice president, Long Term and Post-Acute Care, Cerner. “We are eager to expand upon this work through the Post-Acute Innovation Center, helping drive ideas that enhance and improve healthcare outcomes and experiences for all.”

 

The award was presented today during the 2019 CHIME Fall CIO Forum in Phoenix.

 

The College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) is an executive organization dedicated to serving chief information officers (CIOs), chief medical information officers (CMIOs), chief nursing information officers (CNIOs), chief innovation officers (CIOs), chief digital officers (CDOs) and other senior healthcare IT leaders. With more than 3,200 members in 56 countries and over 150 healthcare IT business partners and professional services firms, CHIME provides a highly interactive, trusted environment enabling senior professional and industry leaders to collaborate; exchange best practices; address professional development needs; and advocate the effective use of information management to improve the health and care in the communities they serve. For more information, please visit chimecentral.org.

 

Cerner’s health technologies connect people and information systems at more than 27,500 contracted provider facilities worldwide dedicated to creating smarter and better care for individuals and communities. Recognized globally for innovation, Cerner assists clinicians in making care decisions and assists organizations in managing the health of their populations. The company also offers an integrated clinical and financial system to help manage day-to-day revenue functions, as well as a wide range of services to support clinical, financial and operational needs, focused on people. For more information, visit Cerner.com, The Cerner Blog or connect with us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter or The Cerner Podcast. Nasdaq: CERN. Smarter Care. Better Outcomes. Healthier You.

 

As a national leader in integrated healthcare services, Encompass Health (NYSE: EHC) offers both facility-based and home-based patient care through its network of inpatient rehabilitation hospitals, home health agencies and hospice agencies. With a national footprint that includes 133 hospitals, 245 home health locations, and 82 hospice locations in 37 states and Puerto Rico, the Company is committed to delivering high-quality, cost-effective, integrated care across the healthcare continuum. Encompass Health is ranked as one of Fortune’s 100 Best Companies to Work For. For more information, visit encompasshealth.com, or follow us on our newsroom, Twitter and Facebook.

 

Candace Stuart

Director of Communications and Public Relations, CHIME

734.665.0000

 

Shayla Wilkinson

Public Relations, Cerner

816.718.6944