Oracle Adds Healthcare Capabilities to ERP, Supply Chain Products

Oracle, the company that bought Cerner for over $28 billion last year, recently announced new healthcare-specific capabilities to three of its products aimed at financial and supply chain management.

The healthcare-specific capabilities include financial consolidation and reporting, procurement, and replenishment planning and recall management. The capabilities will be part of Oracle Fusion Cloud Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Oracle Fusion Cloud Enterprise Performance Management (EPM), and Oracle Fusion Cloud Supply Chain & Manufacturing (SCM), according to the announcement shared at the Oracle Health Conference in Las Vegas.

Oracle says the new capabilities will allow healthcare organizations to “consolidate disconnected systems and automate critical processes while providing the flexibility needed to support new delivery models ranging from telehealth to home and community-based care.”

These capabilities will increase financial visibility, establish more resilient supply chains, and enhance patient care, Oracle states.

"As the healthcare landscape puts an increased emphasis on proactive patient care, increased integration and collaboration across the entire ecosystem is critical to making healthcare more efficient, accessible, and equitable," said Steve Miranda, executive vice president of applications development, Oracle.

"The new capabilities added to Oracle Fusion Applications Suite will help healthcare organizations adopt new business models, embrace rapid innovation, build agile and sustainable supply chains, and better serve patients' needs—now and in the future,” Miranda continued.

Oracle also announced today new workforce management capabilities within Oracle Fusion Cloud Human Capital Management (HCM) “to help healthcare organizations adapt to changing labor markets, meet volatile customer demand, and better attract and retain workers.”

The new capabilities referred to as “Oracle Workforce Scheduling” and “Oracle Workforce Labor Optimization” connect business and EHR data using a single cloud platform to facilitate scheduling for healthcare organizations.

Persistent staffing shortages have challenged healthcare organizations across the US. Without an adequate workforce, healthcare organizations have faced increased labor costs, skills gaps, and hits to patient care.

"Over the past several years it has been incredibly difficult to retain workers due to the high demands of the healthcare industry. Our employees want the flexibility to create their own schedules that fit their lifestyle, but they also want predictability and stability – it's a delicate balance to achieve, but one that can make or break our success," Eric Atkinson, CFO of Oklahoma State University Medical Center, said in the Oracle announcement.

"With Oracle Workforce Scheduling and Oracle Workforce Labor Optimization, we expect our teams will have the freedom and flexibility to meet both employee and patient needs, allowing our organization to stay focused on improving patient care,” Atkinson stated.

The new healthcare-specific capabilities will leverage advanced technologies like artifical intelligence (AI) to help healthcare organizations streamline financial and workforce management, like staff scheduling and financial planning and decision-making.

The capabilities will also enable contract and pricing integrations with group purchasing capabilities, automated inventory tracking for medical recalls, and employee self-service capabilities for scheduling.