Oracle in negotiations to buy Cerner for $30B (sold!)

December 17, 2021 | by

2021 may go out with a bang! The Wall Street Journal (paywalled) reported late Thursday that software colossus Oracle was in discussions with EHR giant Cerner to buy it, lock stock dropdown menus and workflows. And soon, according to the WSJ‘s sources. The reported amount is $30 billion.

It would be Oracle’s most expensive purchase ever, much more than PeopleSoft (HR) in 2005 and NetSuite in 2016. Given their valuations, Cerner is a snack at $23 billion for Oracle at $280 billion. But Cerner gives Oracle four-star entree to healthcare and practice systems. Oracle has long seen healthcare as a growth area for cloud computing services targeted to payers, hospitals, and health systems, and has clients like Cleveland Clinic and Kaiser. Back in June 2020, they launched a cloud service collecting clinical data from sensors, patient apps, EHRs, and labs supporting therapy development. 

As our Readers know, David Feinberg, MD left Google Health to join Cerner as president and CEO on 1 October [TTA 21 August] in a $34.5 million compensation package [TTA 24 August]. An acquisition by Oracle, in such a short time, can be interpreted as either a coup he engineered for the shareholders (and for his benefit, as change of control usually vests the package!), or he can be viewed as a placeholder for the top spot on a previously moving deal. Both are mature companies. While Cerner has been losing market share to Epic and has had many woes with its $18 billion VA Cerner Millenium implementation [TTA 3 Dec, 28 July], it also generates $1 billion per year in free cash flow and Oracle can institute operational efficiencies to increase profit margins. In the view of some, Oracle is returning to an aggressive market strategy that most felt it left behind.

Oracle shareholders didn’t like it much today, with shares declining over 6% on Friday to $96.67. But Cerner’s liked it a lot, increasing price nearly 13% to $89.77. Kansas City-based Cerner also had 150 layoffs in November in its 28,000 employee staff. Oracle recently relocated from California to Austin, Texas, shrinking its office footprint. Seeking Alpha 17 Dec, 17 Dec AM; Kansas City Star, Becker’s HealthIT

Updated–see our short article on the sale for $28.3 billion here.

Philips, Validic partner on health data integration

February 4, 2016 | by
[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/image001.jpg” thumb_width=”200″ /]Earlier today, Philips and health data ‘connector’ Validic announced a partnership where Philips’ multi-part HealthSuite digital health platform will expand with Validic’s access to third-party device data. The surprise is how much data Validic now can access: a claimed 223 million people in 47 countries, which was a surprise to this Editor. Philips’ HealthSuite includes Personal Health Programs, the Lifeline PERS line, eCareCoordinator and eCareCompanion eHealth applications. Exactly how Philips will use this access is not disclosed. Philips release

Fitness/wellness trackers have amazing potential–to annoy

April 2, 2015 | by | 2 Comments
[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/keep_calm_and_smash_watch.jpg” thumb_width=”150″ /]Your Editors have previously noted some interesting personal experiences with fitness bands/trackers. Editor Charles, at last report, was on his third Jawbone Up in a year; this Editor has remained immune to their mostly clonky charms (tempted by the classic Swiss watch looks of Withings Activité [TTA 26 June 14], put off by the $450 price, but now notes that the sporty, analog Activité Pop is available in the US at $150.) Even if not among the Quantified Self avant-garde, we who write about tech can deal with most of it without blinking too much. Over at FierceMobileHealthcare, Judy Mottl, a regular writer for their FierceHealthIT website, took “the plunge into the wearable device pool” and hit her head on the bottom. Her experience of mostly frustration with the app, bad data generation, inability to sync with the smartphone, saying you’re awake/sleeping when not and so on indicates that this is one wearable she should have returned to the store–or treated according to our picture. Is this one isolated example or a more common experience than the healtherati who adore wearables let on?

There’s some evidence that the leaders in fitness bands realize their shortcomings on the app side. Fitbit acquired fitness coaching app developer, FitStar, for at least $17.8 million. Mobihealthnews

Update 2 April: Editor Charles reports on his third Jawbone Up, and his daughters’ experience:

I took to wearing the third Jawbone UP the other way round – i.e. with the two ends in line with the back of my hand, and the thicker bit in line with the inside of my hand and that seems to have done the trick. However my older daughter (more…)

Data mining health records: the good, bad and ugly

October 2, 2014 | by

Take your time this weekend and read this article from the Washington Post on the ‘brave new world’ of data mining health records. While those with experience analyzing real-world health data snicker at Larry Page of Google’s inflated claims of ‘saving 10,000 lives in the first year’ if only he could get his hands on that identified data (of course, then there’s the opportunity to make $£€¥, which is what Larry and Sergey are really interested in–count your Editor as a cynic!), the Health Data Analytics Express rolls on. The promise lies in more precision in treatment areas such as brain tumor radiology where sizing is critical (BraTumIA) and individualized genomics for disease. Yet the author does not touch on healthcare decision support systems best exemplified by IBM Watson, (more…)

Tons of app health data, bound for…third parties?

August 5, 2014 | by
[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/obey_1984.jpg” thumb_width=”150″ /] The law of unintended consequences also applies to Quantified Selfers. Health apps seem to be reaching beyond the QS early adopters and becoming a commonplace, whether on your wrist or built into your smartphone. Apple, Google, IBM and Samsung are all in.The DH3 set (Digital Health Hypester Horde) could not be more pleased. But where is that data going? According to the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC), it’s ending up where your online data goes–profitably sold by developers large and small to your friendly data broker and onward to marketers. You may think it’s private, but it isn’t. There is the famous case of an Target (store) app used to determine whether female customers were pregnant (purchases such as pregnancy tests) and then market related and baby products to them. Commissioner Julie Brill doesn’t like the possibility that health data could be part of the Spooky Monster Mash that is Big Data. “We don’t know where that information ultimately goes,” Brill told a recent Association for Competitive Technology panel. “It makes consumers uncomfortable.” (Ahem!) From the consumer protection standpoint, the FTC would like to do something about it, and they happen to be very good at that type of regulation. Compliance will not only be an added cost of doing business, it will cut into that ol’ business plan. And you thought that the only problem around apps and the Feds was gauging risk to users. Do you have that creepy ‘Big Brother is Watching You’ feeling?  Health IT Outcomes, FierceMobileHealthcare, VentureBeat.