Top News From the Athenahealth investor call, which follows disappointing revenue and earnings quarterly results… HIStalk Announcements and Requests Poll respondents predict that the VA’s biggest problem if it decides to implement Cerner or Epic will be budget overruns, with lack of internal resources being another potential problem. Daddio62 warns Cerner clients that if the company wins the deal, it will pull their experienced consultants off to the VA and replace them with greenhorns. Cerner User also warns of the limited availability of skilled Cerner consultants and the pressure on the VA to increase productivity that will conflict with clunky software workarounds that reduce productivity. Cerner announces good quarterly results. From the earnings call of Cerner, whose Q1 results beat expectations for both revenue and earnings and sent shares up 8 percent Friday: Domestic revenue increased 13 percent, while non-US revenue was basically flat excluding currency fluctuations. Cerner says its advantages over Epic are predictable total cost of ownership, more modern architecture, better ability to demonstrate value, and strong population health management capabilities. The company says its Department of Defense work “is making Cerner better” in ways that will benefit all of its customers, adding that the remaining three DoD pilots are on track . Burke declined to specifically say if Cerner is taking ambulatory business from Athenahealth, saying only that, “We’re taking share from all competitors.” Burke also declined to provide an update to previous comments that Cerner is seeking a CRM partner. Other In Canada, 15 internists at Nanaimo Regional General Hospital go back to paper medication ordering in defiance of Island Health’s mandated use of its Cerner system dubbed IHealth.
