Nebraska Health System Renews 10-Year Contract with Oracle Cerner

Nebraska-based Methodist Health System has announced its commitment to a ten-year contract extension with Oracle Cerner, which will continue access to the full suite of Oracle Cerner solutions. 

This 10-year extension stems from the current 25-year relationship the organizations have built together to improve the patient and caregiver experience throughout Nebraska, the press release stated.

“Over the years, our partnership with Oracle Cerner has continued to grow,” said Kent Sona, vice president of information technology and chief information officer for Methodist Health System.

“It’s not us and them. It’s we,” Sona added. “We work closely together to come up with solutions to meet the needs of our clinicians and our patients. With our recent contract renewal, we have put a strong focus on consumerism, and by working with Oracle Cerner we’re enhancing access to care and information and improving the overall patient experience within our facilities.”

Starting in 1996, Methodist Health System signed on with Oracle Cerner as its lab and pharmacy technology provider. Since then, the health system has leveraged Cerner Millennium, the cloud-based EHR, Cerner Patient Accounting, and Cerner HealtheIntent, the EHR vendor’s population health management platform

Through the several Oracle Cerner platforms, the health system aimed to enhance care quality by providing patients with access to their health information. Additionally, some of Oracle Cerner’s most recent technology efforts have focused on patient engagement, allowing patients access to online digital check-in while giving providers the ability to text patients.

“Oracle Cerner is proud to continue our decades-long partnership with Methodist Health System,” said Bob Kopanic, senior vice president of North America Client relationships for Oracle Cerner. “Their culture of compassion, care and collaboration has been a key part of our collective success through the years, and we look forward to continuing to work with them to create efficiencies that enhance the patient and caregiver experience.”

Over the last few years, maintaining its client relationship has been a difficult feat for Cerner.

According to a 2022 KLAS market share report based on acute care EHR purchasing activity, Cerner only had a 46 percent retention among legacy customers, with most of its customers switching to Epic.

Outside of government contracts, Cerner has not been selected by any net-new large health systems since 2013.

On a high note, the vendor stabilized hospital market share losses through its connections with small standalone hospitals.

As of 2021, Cerner added and extended relationships with more than 400 clients, according to the most recent growth report.

“The past two years have amplified the importance of shared learning and the value of a fully digitized healthcare system,” Travis Dalton, chief client, and services officer of Cerner, said in a public statement. “Technology enables us to improve access to care, increase the speed of innovation and empower clinicians to make more informed decisions on their patients’ care.”