Cerner CEO Comments on Workflow Management, Interoperability

Cerner’s CEO David Feinberg, MD, hired in August of last year, was a keynote speaker at ViVE’s healthcare information technology conference this week. He used the time to tout the company’s approach to interoperability and its improved workflow management.

The new CEO focused his initial comments on how interoperability can improve the patient experience.

“We have to be completely open. I’ve never met a patient that said they want their data locked up,” he responded when asked about the expansion of healthcare consumerism.

Cerner has pushed the envelope around this topic, and the company considers open and interoperable health records a moral imperative.

“We have this privileged position because we own the most important real estate: the eyes of those who are providing care. But only 20 percent of healthcare is happening in the hospital,” commented Feinberg when discussing the extension of healthcare data outside the clinical setting.

In addition, the Cerner executive talked about workflow management which can become complicated with the addition of new technology.

“We have to fix the EHR so nurses can be at the bedside so that doctors can be with the patient and their family, and they’re not glued to the computer,” said Feinberg.

Along with Chief Medical Officer Lu de Souza, MD, Feinberg also addressed questions about health equity.

“As we build models, we have to have the whole community thinking about it,” stated the CEO when speaking about social determinants of health and the implicit biases associated with machine learning.

“Amazingly, we digitized this stuff, but we can add so much to it with data. We’re at an inflection point, and I’m so excited to see what happens if we get this right. Health equity needs to be a top priority within healthcare,” said Chief Medical Officer Lu de Souza, MD, speaking on the health equity panel. “Data sharing is the way we are going to transform and advance the way we treat diverse populations around the world in the future.”

Both de Souza and Feinberg expounded on the idea of a universal approach to healthcare information technology.

“Who comes to the table here? It cannot just be health IT professionals. We need doctors, hospital administrators, and community leaders to help us determine how we can close gaps in care,” mentioned de Souza at the close of her talk.

Feinberg even drew prominent competitors into the conversation at the conclusion of his conversation.

“Epic, Allscripts, athenahealth – I hope everyone follows suit and everyone’s boat rises,” he said. “We all owe it to the frontline caregivers to give them the tools they need to take care of their patients.”

ViVE’s conference wraps up Wednesday with a final session on health equity.