Cerner

The rumors, it turns out, were true. Continuing its policy of buying horizontal and vertical application vendors, database giant Oracle announced plans to acquire Siebel Systems for $5.85 billion. The acquisition is likely to be felt most in the pharmaceutical industry, where Siebel is a well-established player in sales force management software and where Oracle, apart from its databases, is already a big player in clinical trial applications. Health plans, which have traditionally been …

Siemens Medical Systems has donated software for medical teams at the Houston Astrodome to create electronic medical records for refugees of Hurricane Katrina. EMRs offer exactly what is needed in a time of crisis -- the ability to track and prioritize patients in a chaotic environment. Officials say they will use the data gathered at the Astrodome to monitor for possible disease outbreaks. In fact, the serious damage caused to the health system by the loss of hundreds of thousands of …

In time, the electronic health revolution may completely change the face of modern medicine, saving thousands of lives from preventable medical errors and increasing efficiencies to the point that out-of-control healthcare costs are finally brought back in line. In the last couple of years, however, the biggest beneficiaries have been the companies at heart of that transformation.

None have been as closely followed by Wall Street as Cerner, the Kansas City-based software company …

In its first major deal of the quarter, Cerner announced that it has signed a 10-year contract with the US Army to provide medical records software to 100 army hospitals and 400 clinics around the world. The Kansas City-based company said the deal is the largest laboratory technology deal it has yet signed. The Army said the deal could be worth $51 million over the next decade. Cerner stock hit a 52-week high of $79.73 on Thursday, although it's slightly lower now.

- see …

Cerner continues to please Wall Street. The healthcare software and services company said earnings were up 38 percent in the second quarter. The company reports new bookings of $284 million. Key moves for Cerner over the last three months have included the acquisition of Bridge Medical, a bar coding specialist. Earlier in the summer, Cerner wrested away a key UK southern region NHS subcontract from IDX. Cerner's stock was up 5 percent this morning.

- see this story from the Kansas City Star  

There appears to be growing support from major players for a new plan which will create a network allowing banks and healthcare providers to exchange patients' financial and medical information, the Nashville Business Journal reports. The Medical Banking Network says it has recruited dozens of big name companies, including PricewaterhouseCoopers, BearingPoint and Cerner, to participate in the plan. Details of the open-source project are fuzzy, but according to the …

Time becomes the latest national publication to focus on the movement to modernize the nation's healthcare IT infrastructure with a major article on the subject this week. The magazine interviews Cerner's Neal Patterson, AllScripts' Glen Tullman and Siemens Medical Solutions' Don Rucker. The "by most accounts effective" government push in Washington for EMR is also examined. Time's conclusion: "the bottom line is that better healthcare may not hapen without better …

> A medical society representing cardiologists who implant defibrillators in patients said it is preparing guidelines for device makers after Guidant's problems. Story (Wall Street Journal sub. req.)

> Investor's Business Daily looks at the IT changes hospitals are being forced to make to meet HIPAA requirements. …

Health IT software giant Cerner networks said on Thursday that it is buying Bridge Medical, a subsidiary of AmeriSourceBergen, in a deal valued at approximately $11 million. The acquisition strengthens Cerner's position in the bar-coding market, giving the company another angle in its effort to market its services to hospitals and other healthcare providers. Cerner's stock has fallen slightly over the past few weeks, after reaching a 52-week high late last month.

- see this story from BusinessWeek

> The Scrushy trial moves into low gear as scheduling conflicts limit jurors to two days of deliberations this week. Story

> Rep. Dan Baird (D-Wash.) proposed a compromise medical malpractice bill yesterday, which caps damages at $900,000 and tightens oversight on both doctors and lawyers. Story

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