Care Orgs Report Variable Experience with EHR Vendor Cerner

Cerner health IT customers and the healthcare industry at large believe the EHR vendor is at a crossroads, according to a KLAS report.

The report outlines customer perceptions from 26 healthcare organizations, as well as Cerner’s performance data from the past five years. It is the first of several Cerner-specific reports KLAS intends to publish this year as customers seek to understand how the vendor’s recent changes may impact their organizations.  

In the past few months, the vendor has announced its acquisition by Oracle and brought on David Feinberg as the new CEO, making him the third person to fill the role in the past five years. Additionally, an increasing number of long-time Cerner executives have left the company over the past two years.

The vendor’s KLAS performance scores have remained stable over the past five years. Most of the EHR vendor’s products score in the mid-70s (on a 100-point scale). Only a few offerings score in the 80s, while others, including Cerner’s revenue cycle solution, score in the 60s.

Customer experience is highly variable, with clients noting that Cerner has not provided them with consistent support. Several customers have been successful, but they often attribute success to their own efforts.

Many customers reported that they are optimistic about Feinberg’s appointment, though they indicated the outcomes remain to be seen.

Customers believe his approach as CEO will be fundamentally different than his predecessors’ due to his “clinical focus and straight-talking personality,” the report noted.

“We are hoping David Feinberg can bring back usability to the providers and grow the system to match the way healthcare is growing and what we need,” one VP shared. “We need more technology related to the digital front door. We have to make things so health systems can do them with fewer people because we are clearly going to have a labor shortage forever.

“A technology company could play a big role in that,” the customer added. “I hope Cerner fully leverages David Feinberg’s background and can really execute.”

Feinberg said in the report that Cerner has tried “to do too many things by ourselves” in the past.

“Going forward, we are going to change our approach and only focus on a small number of important high-value areas—some of which we plan to achieve by partnering with highly capable organizations we believe can help us achieve our mission, which is to improve the lives of others,” he said.