Electronic Health Reporter

Banner Health, headquartered in Phoenix, Ariz. and Cerner Corp., headquartered in Kansas City, Mo., today announced a multi-year strategic partnership to advance and innovate  health and care delivery by leveraging new developments in health information technology and population health management.

With increasing pressures on health facilities and providers, and shifting reimbursement models, both organizations are committed to innovating care delivery with an approach that focuses on consumer engagement, new and innovative management solutions, and financial management to further drive higher quality and lower costs.

This collaboration builds upon decades of prior engagements between the two organizations, including the deployment of the Cerner Millennium® electronic health record across 26 Banner hospitals that has resulted in 21 of these hospitals being recognized as HIMSS EMRAM Stage 7 organizations.

Banner Health and Cerner will continue to roll out Cerner Millennium across all of Banner’s campuses and clinics, which will include a comprehensive strategy to align the provider’s clinic-based record with the hospital’s acute care record. The two organizations will further collaborate to manage entire populations and improve clinical outcomes, with the roll out and adoption of several Cerner HealtheIntent ? enabled solutions across the organization. This platform is designed to aggregate the clinical, financial and operational data that occurs as part of care delivery and then normalize the data to allow for deeper insights and interventions for both individuals and entire populations.

“At Banner we’re convinced that the transformation of health care – better outcomes and enhanced services for less costs – will largely occur through population health management plans that improve usage and management of services in hospitals and clinics,” said Peter S. Fine, Banner Health president and CEO. “Effective and innovative electronic solutions will be at the heart of this transformation, and Cerner is an ideal partner as a leading organization in these efforts.”

Banner has been recognized nationally for quality outcomes associated with population health management models that involve collaboration between Banner Health Network (BHN) and private and government insurers. In these collaborations, BHN shares the financial risk of caring for and managing patients and members with the insurers.

As part of the commitment, key Cerner leaders and associates will relocate and be permanently assigned to Banner’s headquarters in Phoenix. The Cerner team will closely engage with Banner colleagues to ensure the successful implementation and adoption of HIT solutions, while also fostering new ideas and innovation around future development. This partnership will include the development and opening of an on-site conference and visitor center that will test and showcase these innovations and their impact on health management resources.

“Our partnership will provide a working vision of the transformation and future of health care,” said Neal Patterson, Cerner chairman and CEO. “Our shared vision is to demonstrate the pathway towards an industry that improves outcomes at decreased, sustainable costs while engaging patients more in the management of their own health.”

Banner will highlight the development of a tracking mechanism in Millennium to better manage observation patients real time during an Education session at HIMSS15, April 12-16 in Chicago.

Model of Care for Observation Patients – A Growing Population will be from 1 to 2 p.m. CT, Monday, April 13, in Room S105 at McCormick Place.

Headquartered in Arizona, Banner Health is one of the largest nonprofit health care systems in the country. The system owns and operates 28 acute-care hospitals, Banner Health Network, Banner – University Medicine, Banner Medical Group, long-term care centers, outpatient surgery centers and an array of other services, including family clinics, home care and hospice services, pharmacies and a nursing registry. Banner Health is in seven states: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Nebraska, Nevada and Wyoming. For more information, visit  www.BannerHealth.com.

Cerner’s health information technologies connect people, information and systems at more than 18,000 facilities worldwide. Recognized for innovation, Cerner solutions assist clinicians in making care decisions and enable organizations to manage the health of populations. The company also offers an integrated clinical and financial system to help health care organizations manage revenue, as well as a wide range of services to support clients’ clinical, financial and operational needs. Cerner’s mission is to contribute to the improvement of health care delivery and the health of communities. On February 2, 2015, Cerner Corporation acquired substantially all of the assets, and assumed certain liabilities, of the Siemens Health Services business from Siemens AG.  Nasdaq: CERN. For more information about Cerner, visit cerner.com, read our blog at cerner.com/blog, connect with us on Twitter at twitter.com/cerner and on Facebook at facebook.com/cerner.