Cerner completes Siemens acquisition
EHR vendor Cerner has completed its $1.3 billion acquisition of Siemens Health Services (SHS), the U.S.-based health IT division of German industrial conglomerate Siemens AG, the purchaser announced Monday.
While the deal accelerates the consolidation of the enterprise EHR market, it should have little immediate tangible effect on Siemens customers, according to Cerner President Zane Burke.
“We’re committed to enhancing and supporting Soarian for at least the next 10 years,” Burke said in an interview with Clinical Innovation + Technology. Soarian is the brand name for Siemens Health Services’ central platform.
“The client base is there,” Burke added. “We want to make sure they have a good path forward.” That includes helping smooth the transition for any Siemens customers that choose to switch to Cerner’s flagship Millennium product, he said.
Burke reported “good receptivity” from Siemens customers about the acquisition.
Former SHS boss John Glaser, PhD, is now serving as senior vice president of Cerner as well as a member of the acquiring company’s executive cabinet. He will lead efforts to assist the Soarian user base through the ownership change and also help Cerner with policy and innovation, according to the company.
“We’re very excited about John joining,” Burke said, citing Glaser’s long experience as CIO of Partners HealthCare in Boston before moving to Siemens in August 2010. Burke called Glaser the “father of CHIME” and “one of the founders of health informatics.”
Cerner offered jobs to virtually all Siemens Health Services employees, and about 97 percent accepted, Burke said. North Kansas City, Mo.-based Cerner will maintain the current SHS operation in Malvern, Pa., for the foreseeable future.
As previously announced, Cerner also has entered into a strategic alliance with Siemens to connect medical devices and imaging equipment—two historical strengths of Siemens in medicine—with EHRs and to “advance industry innovation,” according to a Cerner press release. Each company will invest as much as $50 million over the next three years.
Burke said the partnership will rely heavily on Cerner’s existing CareAware integration infrastructure. The two companies have not finalized their joint strategy for research and development, he added.
In celebration of the acquisition, Burke is scheduled to ring the Nasdaq opening bell Tuesday morning in New York.
Neil Versel joined TriMed in 2015 as the digital editor of Clinical Innovation + Technology, after 11 years as a freelancer specializing in health IT, healthcare quality, hospital/physician practice management and healthcare finance.