Cedar, Highmark Inc. and Allegheny Health Network Collaboration Recognized with a 2023 KLAS Points of Light Award

Successful collaboration honored for empowering patients with integrated billing information and insurance data through Cedar’s Payer Intelligence Layer

Navigating the billing process can be a frustrating experience for patients, as data and processes have historically been siloed between payers and providers. By integrating patients’ billing information and insurance data into one platform, enterprise healthcare engagement platform Cedar and Pittsburgh-based Highmark Inc. and Allegheny Health Network have been recognized with a 2023 KLAS Payer/Provider Points of Light Award. The annual Points of Light report and awards highlight successful efforts and partnerships between payers, provider organizations and vendors.

For a single healthcare encounter, patients might receive bills from multiple facilities and clinicians, as well as separate explanation of benefits notices and claims information from their health insurer. This information can be conflicting, leaving patients confused and unsure of their total cost of care. Not only do 69% of U.S. consumers wait to pay bills from their healthcare provider until their health insurer indicates they are done processing a claim, but one-third of consumers have been sent to debt collections because of a billing issue between their healthcare provider and health insurer.

By implementing Cedar’s Payer Intelligence Layer, Highmark and AHN were able to generate a combined statement that empowers patients to understand their full financial responsibility and help them select the right payment solution. Initially available with Cedar Pay, the company’s billing and payment solution, the Payer Intelligence Layer, enables consumers to access insurance explanation of benefits, real-time deductible status and health benefit accounts in the same place where they view and resolve medical bills—using a single, intuitive interface. Since going live in October 2022, patients’ user satisfaction with the platform is nearly 90%, and payments have already increased. In addition to being recognized as the only collaboration in the Patient Billing category, KLAS has deemed the outcomes achieved through the collaboration as Highly Relevant to other organizations and partnerships.

“We’re proud to be recognized by KLAS for the collaboration with our inaugural Payer Intelligence Layer partners, AHN and Highmark, ” said Seth Cohen, President of Cedar. “We’ve already seen great progress in our work to enable connections throughout the healthcare ecosystem, and we look forward to continuing that progress to further streamline and improve healthcare consumers’ financial experiences.”

KLAS is a research and insights firm on a global mission to improve healthcare delivery, and its Points of Light awards are given to payers, providers, and IT vendors who demonstrate close collaboration that leads to shared outcomes. KLAS validated submissions via a standard set of questions administered during in-depth interviews with representatives from all relevant stakeholders.

Seth Cohen, president of Cedar, and Neil Kulkarni, vice president, Customer and Clinician Experience Solutions at Highmark Health, will be presenting the full case study at the KLAS K2 Summit, taking place May 9 – 10, 2023 in Salt Lake City, UT. To read the full Points of Light report and case study, “Improving Patient Understanding of Financial Responsibility by Combining Provider/Payer Data into Single Statement,” please visit www.klasresearch.com. To learn more about Cedar, visit: www.cedar.com.

About Cedar

Cedar is committed to improving the healthcare financial experience for all. With an innovative platform that connects providers and payers, Cedar empowers healthcare consumers with an optimized journey—all powered by data science and interactive design. For Cedar clients, this leads to increased payments, more efficient operations and greater consumer loyalty. To learn more about why leading U.S. healthcare organizations trust Cedar to manage the end-to-end consumer experience from pre-registration to post-visit billing, visit www.cedar.com and join us on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.

About KLAS

KLAS is a data-driven company on a mission to improve the world’s healthcare by enabling provider and payer voices to be heard and counted. Working with thousands of healthcare professionals, KLAS collects insights on software, services and medical equipment to deliver reports, trending data and statistical overviews. KLAS data is accurate, honest and impartial. The research directly reflects the voice of healthcare professionals and acts as a catalyst for improving vendor performance. To learn more about KLAS and the insights it provides, visit KLASresearch.com.

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