Enterprise software giant Oracle announced Monday that it acquired electronic medical records company Cerner in a cash offer for $28.3 billion — the largest acquisition in the company’s history.
Oracle, which recently moved its headquarters to Austin, sees Cerner as an “anchor asset” as it looks to expand into the $3.8 trillion healthcare industry.
Cerner, based in Kansas City, will be organized as a dedicated industry business unit within Oracle when the deal closes. The company will maintain its presence in the Kansas City area.
Oracle plans to make Cerner’s clinical systems easier to use by making its primary interface a hands-free, voice digital assistant. Oracle also plans to transition Cerner to Oracle’s Gen2 Cloud infrastructure.
Mike Sicilia, Oracle’s executive vice president of vertical industries, said in a statement that the transition will be relatively easy, as Cerner’s largest business and most important clinical system already runs on the Oracle database.
Oracle Chairman and CTO Larry Ellison said in a statement that Oracle endeavors to create a new generation of digital healthcare tools that are easier for medical professionals to use.
“This new generation of medical information systems promises to lower the administrative workload burdening our medical professionals, improve patient privacy and outcomes and lower overall healthcare costs,” Ellison said.
Oracle sees additional opportunities for Cerner to continue to innovate electronic medical records with its technological advancements in artificial intelligence, machine learning and cloud technologies.
Cerner President and CEO David Feinberg said in a statement that the acquisition “provides an unprecedented opportunity to accelerate our work modernizing electronic health records, improving the caregiver experience and enabling more connected, high-quality and efficient patient care.”
