The encounter ends, the patient goes home, and then a bill arrives. Amy Stillman argues that a medical bill is not a payment reminder. Patients frequently do not understand what happened to them, what they owe, or what they are supposed to do next, and the bill lands after the frightening part is already over. Stillman is Chief Product Officer at Cedar, where she has run product, design, research, and data science since 2019. She is an industrial designer by training, not an engineer and not a revenue cycle specialist, which turns out to matter. She and Dr. Sarah Matt cover where Cedar sits among payers, EHRs, and clearinghouses, and why a patient should not be reduced to a single true or false signal from one system. Much of the conversation is about Cora, Cedar's AI agent, which Stillman says resolves about 40 percent of its calls, and which is designed against three measures at once: cost to serve, resolution rate, and patient satisfaction. She makes the case for tracking resolution rather than collection, since the right outcome may be a corrected insurance record, a Medicaid redetermination, financial aid, or a discount paired with a payment plan. She also names the group Cedar finds hardest to help: patients just above the financial aid cutoff, called ALICE by United Way, asset limited, income constrained, but employed. Find Amy: cedar.com | linkedin.com/in/amystillman—
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The views expressed on this podcast are those of Dr. Sarah Matt and her guests. They do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any affiliated institutions. This content is for informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice or a professional consulting relationship.