CoxHealth has entered a partnership with Kansas City-based Cerner Corp., a move designed to allow the Springfield hospital to better electronically manage its health records and optimize its operations.
The strategic alignment - dubbed The Star Initiative for Information Innovation, aka Si3 - builds on an existing partnership CoxHealth has had with Cerner since 1997, according to a news release.
"Our collaboration will enable us to leap frog forward with advancement and innovation in our use of electronic health records,” CoxHealth President and CEO Steve Edwards said in the release. “Through the Cerner alignment, CoxHealth will rapidly enhance its systems and processes to propel the organization’s capabilities for delivering value to patients.”
Under the partnership, 143 CoxHealth staff members, the majority of the Springfield hospital's information technology team, will become Cerner employees, said CoxHealth spokeswoman Stacy Fender. She noted the employees would continue to work out of Springfield under IT Director Jerry Chamberlain, an employee Cerner is bringing to Springfield.
The partnership is expected to aid CoxHealth by:
- improving its quality of care by increasing the power its electronic health system;
- integrating the flow of data from medical devices into the health systems electronic health records;
- increasing efficiencies and streamline workflows; and
- improving system speed, usability and uptime.
"The effort will lay the foundation for CoxHealth to manage health care across the entire community. This will enable the community to proactively manage their health together with their care providers through electronic health records,” CoxHealth Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Jake McWay said in the release. “The alignment will emphasize a model of care that puts the patient at the center and ultimately builds efficiency, effectiveness and technological advancements of the CoxHealth system, while lowering the overall cost.”
Publicly traded Cerner (Nasdaq: CERN) provides digital services for the health care industry, such as information software, professional services, medical device integration, remote hosting, and employer health and wellness systems. The corporation licenses products to roughly 9,300 health care facilities, including more than 2,650 hospitals, according to the release.
As of 9:29 a.m., the company's shares were trading at $67.96, compared to a 52-week range of $55.69 to $88.32.
