Cerner Corporation

Does Cerner still exist?

No. Cerner Corporation ceased to exist as an independent company when Oracle completed its $28.3 billion acquisition in June 2022. The business operates as the Oracle Health division and the Cerner brand is being phased out.

Who owns Cerner now?

Oracle Corporation owns the former Cerner business, operating it as Oracle Health. Oracle acquired Cerner Corporation for $28.3 billion.

Was Cerner publicly traded?

Yes. Cerner traded on NASDAQ under ticker CERN from 1986 until Oracle took it private in June 2022, ending 36 years as a public company.

When was Cerner founded?

The company was founded in 1979 in Kansas City as PGI & Associates by Neal Patterson, Cliff Illig, and Paul Gorup, and renamed Cerner in 1984.

What is Oracle Health?

Oracle Health is the division of Oracle Corporation formed from the acquired Cerner business, encompassing the electronic health record, clinical systems, and health data platforms.

What was Cerner's revenue before acquisition?

Cerner generated approximately $5.9 billion in revenue in fiscal 2021, its last full year as an independent company, before Oracle's acquisition.

Neal Patterson, Cliff Illig, and Paul Gorup founded the company in 1979 as PGI & Associates in Kansas City, three former Arthur Andersen consultants building software for medical laboratories. Renamed Cerner in 1984, it listed on NASDAQ in 1986 and spent 36 years as a public company.

Through the 1980s and 1990s, Cerner developed the health information systems that would make it a category leader, pioneering computerized physician order entry and launching its Millennium EHR platform in the 1990s. Millennium became one of the two dominant EHR systems in American hospitals alongside Epic Systems.

The company expanded into revenue cycle management, population health, and international markets, growing to more than 25,000 employees. Major federal contracts included EHR deployments for the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs, though the VA implementation became a prolonged struggle marked by delays and safety concerns.

Founder Neal Patterson died in 2017. Under subsequent leadership the company faced rising competition from Epic, VA contract difficulties, and pressure to modernize its technology stack, setting the stage for Oracle's approach.

Oracle announced its $28.3 billion acquisition in December 2021, completing the purchase June 8, 2022. The business was reorganized as Oracle Health, with Oracle committing to migrate the EHR to Oracle Cloud Infrastructure and embed AI capabilities. The Cerner corporate brand was phased out, with the division operating entirely under the Oracle Health name by the mid-2020s.

The most significant controversy surrounding Cerner's legacy is the VA EHR implementation, which was paused repeatedly after reports of patient safety issues and drew sustained congressional oversight that continued after the Oracle acquisition.

Cerner also faced criticism over interoperability practices that critics argued restricted health data sharing, contributing to industry information-blocking regulations. Patient safety incidents tied to implementations at individual hospitals generated periodic litigation and scrutiny.

Under Oracle, the division has experienced layoffs and leadership changes as part of integration, while navigating the continued VA challenges and customer retention issues inherent in a major platform transition.