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Cerner/Siemens Acquisition
Soarian Migration in High Gear
Cerner’s acquisition of Siemens touches the foundational HIT systems of hundreds of provider organizations and has Soarian customers on an accelerated path to an EMR change. Patient accounting customers are hoping the vendors’ historically weak financial systems will become stronger together. This report examines how providers in the United States are responding to the way Cerner has managed the needs of this blended customer base over the first year.
1. SOARIAN CLINICALS RAPIDLY LOSING ENERGY
The acquisition has most Soarian Clinicals customers weighing their options. Nearly nine out of ten current Soarian organizations interviewed confirm they are considering a change, with most planning to make their decision by the end of 2016. Several providers state that it makes little sense for Cerner to continue to invest in Soarian when they already have a top-tier EMR in their portfolio. Before the acquisition, Soarian customers were moving almost exclusively to Epic; now most are considering PowerChart as a viable option with reduced financial obstacles. Epic still has considerable draw, based on strong performance and deep penetration in the market. The few providers planning to stay with Soarian may accelerate their plans as they watch most of their peers choose to leave.
2. REVENUE CYCLE PERFORMANCE CONTINUES TO LAG, BUT PROVIDERS HOPEFUL
Cerner Patient Accounting and Soarian Financials continue to be two of the lowest-performing patient accounting products. Despite this, providers using both products are hopeful the acquisition will bring positive changes. Cerner Patient Accounting customers hope Cerner will leverage some of the new technology and expertise they have seen in Soarian, while Soarian Financials customers hope Cerner will devote the resources needed for their system to reach its potential. As it stands, Cerner will need to make significant changes to elevate both solutions to become viable revenue cycle contenders.
3. POWERCHART BUCKS POST-ACQUISITION TREND
Acquisitions are often distracting to vendors and painful for providers. It typically takes 12–18 months for the impact of an acquisition to be registered in a vendor’s performance scores, but if there are problems, providers will begin to talk about them well before the scores change. In the ratings and comments from PowerChart users, KLAS does not see any indicators that would signal an impending drop in satisfaction. PowerChart customers continue to report a positive experience that has been largely unaffected by the acquisition, and they remain optimistic about the future.
4. CERNER HAS NOT REVERSED THE DECLINE OF SOARIAN CLINICALS
Cerner has not done much to excite Soarian customers, who now view Soarian as an orphaned product. Despite Cerner’s promises to continue to develop Soarian Clinicals for the next decade, the customer experience has continued to decline, due mainly to deficient support and a lack of new development—the same problems customers reported before the acquisition. A few customers are still hopeful that Cerner will address these gaps, but the energy around Clinicals is quickly dissipating as providers jump ship for other solutions with longer-term viability.
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This material is copyrighted. Any organization gaining unauthorized access to this report will be liable to compensate KLAS for the full retail price. Please see the KLAS DATA USE POLICY for information regarding use of this report. © 2018 KLAS Enterprises, LLC. All Rights Reserved. NOTE: Performance scores may change significantly when including newly interviewed provider organizations, especially when added to a smaller sample size like in emerging markets with a small number of live clients. The findings presented are not meant to be conclusive data for an entire client base.