Dr. David Feinberg, CEO at Cerner
In a wide-ranging conversation Monday at ViVE, the technology conference focused on healthcare transformation, in Miami Beach, Florida, Cerner CEO Dr. David Feinberg talked a lot about the potential benefits of EHRs.
That included how Kansas City, Missouri-based Cerner had been able to collect disparate sources of data from massive patient pools to gain insights that could improve care. “I think our job is to pull that data together,” he said. And he discussed how Cerner has begun to collect information on social determinants of health as part of a focus on population health, something other EHRs are honing in on as well. But he was also open about areas for improvement, including the need to do much more on social determinants.
So when the question came up about a 2021 report showing the company lost U.S. market share in 2020, Feinberg was quick to mount a broad defense. But it went well-beyond talking about the company’s market position.
The performance report by KLAS Research found, among other things, that 2020 was the second year in a row in which Cerner’s net U.S. hospital market share decreased. By contrast, Epic saw the most growth in terms of beds, hospitals and unique organizations outpacing its competition by more than ever before. When asked how Cerner could meet its lofty goals for its EHR if it was losing market share, Feinberg pushed back.
He noted that the company not only maintained its No. 1 status but had grown in the U.S. in 2021. He touted the company’s broad international reach, and he pointed out that the VA chose Cerner to do “the largest EHR install in the world.” But he also took another tack that spoke to where the head of Cerner, which is being purchased by Oracle, is in terms of prioritizing the promise of EHRs in building for the future.
“We have the largest market share worldwide — but I don’t care about any of that,” Feinberg claimed.
What he said mattered was improving EHRs to better deliver for providers, while serving patients.
“So that’s what we’re going to focus on is being clinically driven, clinically infused, listening to our customers. When we say we’re going to do it, we’re going to do it,” he said.
Feinberg talked both about how invaluable EHR data could be for patient care, and how far all EHR companies still had to go to serve their customers and improve the industry. Then he let loose with a line that garnered rapturous applause from other conference attendees.
“I didn’t come to beat Epic,” Feinberg said. “I really came to make healthcare better.”
