This document discusses the history of the healthcare IT company Cerner, including its leadership over time. It notes that Neal Paterson has led Cerner as CEO for its entire 34-year history, providing consistency. It also discusses that Trace Devanny served as Cerner's President from 1999 to 2010 after being a successful sales representative for the company. The most recent President is Zane Burke, who took over in 2013 and faces the challenge of continuing Cerner's strong growth in revenue and employee numbers.

1. H.I.S.-
tory,
by Vince Ciotti
© 2013 by H.I.S. Professionals, LLC, all rights reserved.
Episode #109:
Cerner
Part 6
Neal & Cliff - 1987
Neal & Cliff - 2007

2. ERP “Gap” Quiz
• So how did you do in last week’s quiz on what other leading HIS
vendors besides Cerner did not write their own ERP system,
about the only gap in Cerner’s long line of HIS applications?
– We mean really integrated systems (written in the same
programming language, data base & OS, and running on the
same hardware platform), that have been self-developed
inhouse (not acquired, or a “partner” vendor’s system).
• It’s a bit of a trick question as the answer varies greatly by
product, with half of today’s vendors offering multiple HIS-es.
• So the next time someone tells you they’re on McKesson,
Siemens, Meditech, etc., be sure to ask them exactly whichof
their many products they’re on – it’s like owning a “GM” car – is it
a Chevy, a Corvette, or a Cadillac? Quelledifférence!

3. Today’s Leading Vendor ERP Status
VENDOR PRODUCTS WITHERP PRODUCTS WITHOUTERP
McKesson Star, Series, Paragon Horizon
Cerner Millennium
Siemens
MedSeries 4
Unity,Invision, Eagle, Soarian
Epic EpicCare
Allscripts Sunrise
GE Centricity
Meditech Magic, C/S, Release 6
NextGen Sphere
CPSI CPSI System
HMS General Financials
NTT (Keane) Optimum
Harris (QM) Affinity
Healthland Classic, APS Centriq (EHR only)

4. C-Suite Longevity
• Getting back to Cerner, Neal Paterson has been at their helm for
an amazingly long time, serving as the CEOand Chairman their
entire 34 year history. Only a few other HIS vendors can claim
such consistency at the top:
– Neal Pappalardohas been Meditech’s Chairman for 44 years!
– Judy Faulkner has led Epic for its entire 34 year history.
– Jim Macaleer was SMS’ Chairman for 30 years (pre Siemens)
– Rich Tarrant led IDS/IDX for 30 years (1974 to 2004, pre GE)
• So who else served as Cerner’sPresident under Neal? Interesting
question: remember the LIS search in Episode 107 (you can find
them all at hispros.com) that documented how Cerner rose to the
top of the LIS market so rapidly in the early nineties? We put
vendors through a pretty rigorous selection process that really
puts sales reps through their paces.Who was Cerner’s rep at the
Wyoming Valley Health Care System selection in back 1993?

5. Promoting From Within
• Actually, we were assigned a brand new rep right in
the middle of the process, who wasa recent hire to
Cerner, having just joined their Washington, DC
office. We were a little concerned at how well
arookie rep could coordinate all the demands we
made on KC regarding client lists, user manuals, site
visits, and our “strenuous” contract negotiations…
• As you saw in that selection process, this new guy performed
superbly, beating out Sunquest, ALS and SMS in the process.
• His name? Trace Devanny– and he rose rapidly through the ranks
at Cerner after 1993, being promoted to President in 1999! Trace
had 17 years experience with IBM in the mid-Atlantic region, so
knew the sales game well. He also served as CEO and COO at
ADAC, so he knew the C-Suite game too. He led Cerner for 10
years until leaving in 2010 to head up The TriZetto Group

6. This Time An Outside Hire
• Andrecently (9/4/2013), came news about Cerner’s 3rd President:

7. Growth Charts
• Zane is facing an enormous challenge to keep Cerner growing at
its amazing pace, as illustrated in the following two charts:
– First, Cerner’s annual revenue over the past 34 years:

8. “Associates”
• Reflecting Cerner’s team-building philosophy, employees are
referred to as “Associates” in KC, and their growth has been
amazing, fromthe 3 founders in 1979, to over 12,000 today:

9. Next Episode
• Many thanks again to the folks at Cerner for help with this story,
including Neal, whowas kind enough to introduce me to:
– Vince .. I bet we can come with some old stuff .. April Martin is
brilliant and will help u .. my travel is taking me afar .. connect
in a couple of weeks .. good luck.
• The HIS-tory of today’s vendors concludes with the
#1 vendor on everyone’s annual revenue charts
McKesson, who started way back in the 70s when
another founding trio left McAuto to form HBO:
- Walter Huff,Bruce Barrington, and Rich Owens
• If anyone knows their contact info, or that of any
other old HBO(C) veterans, please put them in
touch with me at: vciotti@hispros.com, 505/466-
4958 - they’ll get due credit (or blame!)