Electronic Health Reporter

For his more than 35 years of service to the healthcare IT industry, Cerner Corp. Chairman and CEO Neal Patterson was awarded this year’s Industry Leader Award by the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) Foundation.

The award, presented today at the CHIME14 Fall CIO Forum in San Antonio, Texas, recognizes Patterson’s work over those years to infuse digital records in the care delivery process.

“I’m honored to receive this award,” Patterson said. “It’s a gift and a privilege to get to do work that is so meaningful. On its very best day, health care is hard, complex and ambiguous. Information plays a mission-critical role for doctors and nurses. We have a significant responsibility to continue to innovate and get the right information in the right hands at the right time. It is an exciting time to be involved in health IT.”

Patterson co-founded Cerner in 1979. The company started by offering a single laboratory information system in the mid-1980s. Patterson and Cerner didn’t stop there, continuing development efforts to create a suite of integrated, clinically focused commercial healthcare applications. In the 1990s, Cerner offered an application set built on a common platform with real-time interactive decision support.

The application platform was rebuilt on client server technology and shifted to a person-centric data model. Cerner continues to invest in product evolution, spending more than $3 billion on research and development in the last decade.

Cerner solutions are now used by more than 3,100 hospitals and 447,000 providers in 22 countries. Company revenues totaled $2.9 billion in 2013, and the company has 15,000 associates worldwide.

Patterson’s influence extends beyond his leadership at Cerner. He is currently a GAO appointee to the Health Information Technology Policy Committee. He was a member of the RAND Health Advisory Board from 2000 to 2007, and currently serves as a trustee of the Midwest Research Institute and a member of the First Hand Foundation Executive Board.

“Mr. Patterson has been a leader in pursuing healthcare technology effectiveness and interoperability,” said Marc Probst, vice president and CIO of Intermountain Healthcare. “He believes there are times when competitors within an industry must cooperate for the advancement of the industry and betterment of society. He has actively demonstrated this ability to prioritize community healthcare interest over specific business benefits.”

Patterson and Cerner also have been committed supporters of CHIME and the CHIME Foundation for many years, noted Gerald Bisbee, chairman and CEO of The Health Management Academy. “His active engagement within Cerner on CHIME strategic initiatives is testimony to his view of CHIME’s benefit,” Bisbee said. “Neal’s support of CHIME and the CHIME Foundation has tracked along with his vision for healthcare and the importance of digitization.”

About CHIME
The College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) is an executive organization dedicated to serving chief information officers and other senior healthcare IT leaders. With more than 1,400 CIO members and over 140 healthcare IT vendors and professional services firms, CHIME provides a highly interactive, trusted environment enabling senior professional and industry leaders to collaborate; exchange best practices; address professional development needs; and advocate the effective use of information management to improve the health and healthcare in the communities they serve. For more information, please visit www.cio-chime.org.

About the CHIME Foundation
The CHIME Foundation is a separate non-profit organization comprised of over 140 select healthcare IT vendors and professional services firms established to support the educational initiatives of the CHIME organization. The CHIME Foundation serves to educate its member organizations, enabling them to better address the needs of CIOs and the healthcare industry. For more information, please visit www.cio-chime.org/Foundation

About Cerner Corp.

Cerner’s health information technologies connect people, information and systems at more than 14,000 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. 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. Certain trademarks, service marks and logos set forth herein are property of Cerner Corporation and/or its subsidiaries. All other non-Cerner marks are the property of their respective owners. .