Cedar

“You have to be able to scale without increasing your cost-to-collect.” That’s how Leo A. Vela, CRCP-I, Director of Patient Financial Services at Gastro Health, frames the challenge of supporting a 200-location practice across seven states. Their answer: Kora, Cedar’s AI agent. Since launch, Kora has handled 55,000+ patient billing calls — autonomously answering routine questions, handing calls off to live agents with full context, and learning the specific nuances of gastroenterology. What’s changed: ↓ 24% live agent handle time ↓ 22% Cedar-support call center staffing 4 out of 5 patient satisfaction with support Full story: https://lnkd.in/gcQGKkTz

We're excited to be a part of this next week and share the stage with Zeke Emanuel and Health Tech Nerds. Health Tech Nerds consistently brings together some of the sharpest thinkers in this space. This one is worth your hour. Register at the link below.

Two wins worth celebrating. Cedar has been recognized as one of Inc. Magazine's Best Workplaces of 2026 and, for the sixth consecutive year, one of Forbes America's Best Startup Employers — ranked No. 12 overall and No. 1 in Healthcare for the second year running. These recognitions reflect what gets built when people genuinely care about the work and each other. To every Cedarian: this one's yours. 🏆 Inc.: https://lnkd.in/gZUuECj 🏆 Forbes: https://lnkd.in/dGSX3ahr #GrowWithCedar #IncBestWorkplaces #ForbesBestEmployers

"For the first time, we had the ability to clearly understand performance drivers, identify opportunities for improvement, and align our revenue cycle strategy with evolving patient behaviors." That's Lynn Brennan Van Houten, SVP of Revenue Cycle Management at North American Partners in Anesthesia, in a new Healthcare IT News feature on the operating model behind the organization's patient financial experience transformation. Lynn walks through how patient-level data and behavioral insights have reshaped how her team engages patients — and the results it's produced: a 25% lift in cash collections, 87% of payments through self-service, and a 92% patient satisfaction score. Full article → https://lnkd.in/dRtgz4KQ

Last month, our CEO Florian Otto sat down with NYSE to discuss patient financial experience, and his message was clear: one size fits none. We've personalized everything else. The shows you're recommended. Playlists built around your taste. But medical bills — one of the most financially consequential expenses most Americans face all year — still get sent the same way to every patient. So what does personalized medical billing actually look like in practice? We built an interactive tool that shows you. Toggle between patient profiles and watch engagement adapt in real time — different barriers, different behaviors, different paths to resolution. Explore it here: https://lnkd.in/e2KnFYpr

As patient responsibility grows, health systems are facing a harder question: how do you improve financial outcomes without creating more friction for patients? In a new HealthLeaders article, Providence Chief Revenue Cycle Officer Ryan Thompson sat down with Luke Gale to discuss how Providence is navigating payer complexity, rising administrative friction, and rapid technological change. One theme stood out: there is no single workflow for the modern patient financial journey. During Providence’s work with Cedar, the team found that only about 23% of patient bills are truly “fast and easy.” The rest require more nuanced outreach, more flexible interventions, and a deeper understanding of each patient’s circumstances. That is where personalization matters. Providence has leaned on Cedar’s personalization engine to identify different patient needs and tailor outreach accordingly, helping improve financial outcomes while preserving the empathy patients need when bills are confusing, stressful, or unexpected. We are proud to partner with Providence as they build a more adaptive, patient-centered revenue cycle strategy. Read the full HealthLeaders article: https://lnkd.in/gWX7uKM7

Last week, we hosted our 2026 Client Advisory Council event, bringing together an incredible group of partners for a few days of collaboration, innovation, and forward-thinking conversations. From product deep dives to interactive working sessions, we pressure-tested ideas, shared perspectives, and co-created around some of the most important challenges in healthcare today. Key themes that emerged throughout the event included:   ⚙️ Building operational efficiency at scale 🧠 Leveraging AI and intelligent personalization 🤝 Designing experiences that truly meet patients where they are Beyond the sessions, the real highlight was the opportunity to connect. A heartfelt thank you to all of our clients who joined us and generously shared their time, insights, and vision — Tennille Lizarraga, Brian Graziano, Natalie Parish, CRCP, Grace Barba, Eyobel Petros, Fazie Harney, Nichole Kerr, Ryann Holloway, Lynn Brennan Van Houten, Charlie Collins, MHA, CRCR, CPC, CPPM, Melissa Allen, Sherri Ernst, Joshua Ludwig, Samantha Caskey, MSPM, Martha Ouellette, Tara Hawkins, Jennifer Tryfon, MHA, William Gress, Sheila Hankins, Jennifer Chastain. Your partnership continues to shape everything we build. We’re leaving this year’s Council energized and more committed than ever to building the future of the patient financial experience together.

When you hear “automated outbound call,” you probably picture something you'd let go to voicemail. This isn’t that👇 Kora Outbound is Cedar's AI voice agent for patients who don't engage through email, text, or portal. It calls the right people at the right time, explains balances and coverage in plain language, and surfaces options patients may not know they have. This is one path to resolution. See what else Cedar Intelligence, our AI-powered personalization engine, can do → https://lnkd.in/e2KnFYpr

A patient who paid every bill on time last year may be a healthcare provider's biggest collection risk today. Part of this is circumstantial. Coverage volatility, rising out-of-pocket costs, and an economic environment that's squeezing households across income brackets. But it's also a signal problem. The risk models providers rely on to segment patients, like propensity to pay, assume the past predicts the future. In today's environment, that signal gets outdated fast. When the signal is wrong, so is the strategy. Patients get offered options they can't actually afford. As Doug Watson, CFO of Allina Health, put it: "That's not a real choice." Our 2026 Healthcare Financial Experience Study digs into both sides of this: what patients can realistically cover, based on a survey of 4,150 adults, and how propensity-to-pay models hold up, based on an analysis of 10 million patient bills assigned third-party scores. Read the full report: https://lnkd.in/g7AfKfJd

Imagine a knowledgeable friend sitting next to you, explaining your medical bill. What would she do or say? She wouldn't hand you a list of CPT codes. She'd explain what each charge means in plain language. She'd anticipate your questions before you asked them — "why didn’t insurance cover this?” — and answer them on the spot. She'd give you the clarity you need to pay with confidence, not the confusion that makes you pick up the phone. Providers can now scale that level of clarity for every patient — powered by Cedar Intelligence, our AI personalization engine.   This is just one financial journey. Step into the patient's shoes and explore the others: https://lnkd.in/eX3XCWQe