Cerner Deals Expand Revenue Cycle Apps

Cerner Corp. has announced a series of vendor alliances to significantly increase its offerings of revenue cycle management technology.

The Kansas City, Mo.-based hospital vendor will resell the entire suite of Web-based revenue cycle applications from MedAssets Inc., Atlanta. Among other functions, the applications estimate patient costs, verify medical necessity, conduct Medicaid and charity care eligibility, and provide decision support to better manage budgets, costs and payer contracts, and analyze financial performance enterprisewide.

Cerner also will resell financial services from Minneapolis-based SearchAmerica. These include applications to verify patient demographic information, predict the likelihood of payment, screen patients for eligibility for insurance coverage or charity care, and direct patients to financial counseling prior to completing registration.

Further, Cerner will resell the medical coding and prospective payment system applications of Ingenix Inc., Eden Prairie, Minn.

Cerner will integrate the vendors' applications into its Millennium platform. More information is available at medassets.com, searchamerica.com and ingenix.com.

--Joseph Goedert