Cerner

What is cerner

Cerner is an enterprise healthcare information technology provider focused on electronic health records (EHR), clinical workflow software, and health-system infrastructure. The company supplies solutions used across acute care hospitals, ambulatory clinics, behavioral health, long-term care, and other care settings to support clinical documentation, order entry, results management, and care coordination. After acquisition by Oracle, Cerner's products are frequently positioned alongside cloud infrastructure and enterprise services for health systems.

Cerner products address both point-of-care clinical needs and back-office functions such as billing, coding, and revenue cycle management. Large health systems deploy Cerner for a unified patient record, patient engagement touchpoints, and integration with medical devices and imaging systems. The platform emphasizes configurable workflows and role-based interfaces to fit different clinical services.

Hospitals and health systems commonly implement Cerner as the core clinical system of record. Implementations range from single-facility ambulatory clinics to multi-hospital integrated delivery networks with tens of thousands of users. Cerner's ecosystem also includes third-party apps and developer tools designed to extend functionality and integrate with population health and analytics solutions.

Cerner features

What does cerner do?

Cerner provides a set of clinical and administrative modules that together form a comprehensive health IT platform. Core capabilities include electronic medical records, computerized provider order entry (CPOE), clinical decision support (CDS), medication management, and documentation templates for inpatient and outpatient care. Cerner also supplies modules for specialty workflows such as oncology, surgery, and behavioral health.

The platform includes administrative features such as patient scheduling, billing and claims management, revenue cycle analytics, and patient registration. Many implementations use Cerner's revenue cycle components to manage charge capture, claim submission, payer reconciliation, and denial management. These administrative modules integrate with clinical data to support accurate coding and compliance reporting.

Interoperability and data exchange are core parts of Cerner's offering. The platform supports HL7 interfaces, FHIR-based APIs, and common health information exchange patterns so that labs, imaging systems, pharmacies, and external health information exchanges can exchange patient data. Cerner also provides integration engines and tools for mapping and transforming clinical messages to reduce implementation complexity.

Cerner adds analytics, population health, and quality-measure reporting tools that use aggregated clinical and administrative data. These tools support cohort identification, risk stratification, and care gap management for population health programs. In larger deployments, Cerner's analytics work with enterprise data warehouses and reporting platforms to produce operational and clinical dashboards.

Deployment models include on-premises installs, hosted managed services, and cloud-based configurations, depending on customer requirements and regulatory constraints. Professional services cover implementation, training, data migration, and optimization engagements to adapt Cerner workflows to local clinical practices.

Cerner pricing

Cerner offers these pricing plans:

• Enterprise: Custom pricing — full EHR suite with clinical, revenue cycle, and enterprise modules, typically priced via multi-year licensing and services contracts
• Hosted/Managed Services: Custom pricing — subscription-based hosting and managed application operations on vendor or cloud infrastructure
• On-premises License: Custom pricing — perpetual license combined with annual maintenance and support fees
• Professional Services: Custom pricing — implementation, data migration, training, and optimization billed as project or time-and-materials

For exact rates and contractual models, health systems should check Cerner's commercial offerings or contact sales; see Cerner's solutions catalog for deployment-specific details and enterprise options at Cerner's solutions catalog (https://www.cerner.com/solutions).

Cerner's agreements are almost always negotiated at the organization level, so listed prices are typically not published as per-user monthly subscriptions like consumer SaaS products. Pricing varies based on deployment size, number of facilities, modules purchased, integration scope, and professional services required.

Large customers should plan for multi-year total cost of ownership that includes software license or subscription fees, hardware or hosting costs, implementation consulting, ongoing maintenance, training, and change-management activities. Many customers amortize implementation and transition costs over a multi-year contract term when evaluating budget impact.

How much is cerner per month

Cerner starts at Custom monthly pricing for hosted or subscription deployments, with costs determined by the scope of clinical modules, number of users, and service-level requirements. Monthly subscription models are typically used for managed-hosting agreements and are quoted after an initial assessment of the customer environment.

Operators can expect ongoing monthly fees to cover application hosting, support, and operational services when choosing a cloud or managed service option. Those fees will scale with the size of the environment, number of sites, and integration complexity.

Small ambulatory arrangements and cloud-hosted bundles sometimes have clearer monthly billing, but enterprise EHR deployments normally require a formal proposal and statement of work to determine an exact monthly figure.

How much is cerner per year

Cerner costs Custom yearly pricing for enterprise customers and will usually be expressed as annual subscription or maintenance totals in multi-year contracts. Annual totals include support, software assurance, hosting, and any recurring analytics or population health services.

Annual costs also reflect amortized implementation and optimization charges when invoiced over the contract term. Large health systems often budget in the millions annually for a full enterprise EHR plus associated services; smaller clinics will see much lower annual costs but still significant relative to typical practice budgets.

When evaluating year-over-year costs, organizations should include implementation amortization, ongoing training, upgrade cycles, and regulatory compliance activities in their annual budget models.

How much is cerner in general

Cerner pricing ranges from Custom (small ambulatory deployments) to multi-million-dollar annual contracts for large health systems. The overall range depends on the product mix (clinical EHR, revenue cycle, analytics), deployment model (on-premises vs. hosted), and level of professional services required.

Project sizing drivers include number of hospital beds, ambulatory providers, specialty modules, integration points with labs and devices, and regional regulatory requirements. Total cost of ownership should be calculated across software, infrastructure, services, and organizational change costs to provide a realistic comparison against alternatives.

To get a tailored estimate, health systems should request a formal proposal and reference architectures from Cerner or their implementation partners and review case studies for similar-sized organizations.

What is cerner used for

Cerner is used as the primary clinical information system in hospitals and outpatient networks to document patient encounters, manage orders, and coordinate care across settings. Clinicians use Cerner for progress notes, medication orders, lab result review, and clinical decision support tied to evidence-based rules and alerts. The system supports specialty workflows including surgery, emergency care, maternal/child health, and oncology.

Administratively, Cerner supports patient scheduling, registration, insurance verification, and revenue cycle processes that drive claims and payment. Health system finance and coding teams use Cerner modules to capture chargeable services, manage coding workflows, and report on financial performance.

Cerner also underpins population health and quality improvement programs by aggregating clinical data for reporting, gap management, and outcomes tracking. Care managers and population health teams use Cerner-derived cohorts and risk stratification tools to target interventions and monitor performance on quality measures.

Finally, Cerner is used as an integration hub to connect devices, imaging systems, laboratories, and external health information exchanges. IT teams frequently rely on Cerner integration tools and APIs to maintain data flows and support interoperability across the enterprise.

Pros and cons of cerner

Pros:

• Extensive, mature clinical and administrative feature set covering inpatient, ambulatory, and specialty care
• Strong interoperability capabilities with HL7, FHIR, and integration engines, plus a developer portal for third-party apps
• Enterprise-grade scalability suitable for multi-hospital health systems
• Integrated revenue cycle tools that tie clinical documentation to billing workflows

Cons:

• Enterprise implementations require significant time and resources for configuration, training, and change management
• Costs are typically negotiated and can be high for full-suite deployments, including services and infrastructure
• Customization and optimization often require vendor or certified partner support, which can lengthen project timelines
• Smaller practices may find the scope and complexity mismatched to their needs unless a targeted ambulatory solution is selected

Operational impact considerations include the need for strong governance during rollout, clinician engagement to adapt workflows, and ongoing optimization programs to realize clinical and financial benefits.

Cerner free trial

Cerner typically does not offer an open self-serve free trial for its core enterprise EHR in the same way consumer SaaS does. Instead, potential customers engage with Cerner through demonstrations, pilot projects, and proof-of-concept (POC) arrangements sized to the customer's environment. Demos highlight workflow scenarios, configuration options, and integration capabilities.

For smaller modules or partner apps available through Cerner's developer ecosystem, limited sandbox or developer access may be available via the Cerner Open Developer Experience. Prospective customers should request a demo or pilot from Cerner sales to evaluate fit for clinical workflows and interoperability.

Contracts commonly include staged pilots, training waves, and go-live support rather than a free trial period; buyers should negotiate pilot scope, acceptance criteria, and rollback/migration terms in their statements of work.

Is cerner free

No, Cerner is not free. Cerner's products are enterprise-grade software and services sold under license or subscription models with associated implementation and support fees. Costs vary by module, deployment model, and scale.

While Cerner does not offer a permanent free version for enterprise EHR, developers and integration partners may access limited developer tools or sandbox environments via Cerner Open Developer Experience for testing and app development.

Cerner API

Cerner provides a developer platform and APIs that enable data access and application integration. The Cerner Open Developer Experience (code.cerner.com) exposes FHIR-based APIs, sandbox environments, and documentation to help third-party developers build apps that integrate with Cerner systems. The platform supports common clinical resources such as Patient, Observation, MedicationRequest, and Procedure.

APIs support OAuth2-based authentication, role-based access control, and adherence to security and privacy requirements for clinical data exchange. The developer portal documents API endpoints, resource payloads, and example workflows for reading patient records, submitting orders, or retrieving lab results.

Beyond standard FHIR resources, Cerner supports bulk-data export, clinical decision support hooks, and specialized endpoints for scheduling and administrative functions depending on the deployment and partner agreements. Hospitals typically work with Cerner or certified integrators to enable API access in production environments, manage consent, and validate security controls.

For more details on developer tools and technical documentation, explore Cerner Open Developer Experience (https://code.cerner.com/), which includes sandbox sign-up and API reference materials.

10 Cerner alternatives

Paid alternatives to cerner

• Epic — Comprehensive EHR used by large academic medical centers and health systems; strong patient portal and integrated revenue cycle capabilities.
• Allscripts — Suite of ambulatory and acute care systems with population health and practice management solutions.
• MEDITECH — Hospital EHR vendor focused on integrated EMR workflows for mid-size hospitals and health systems.
• McKesson (Paragon) — Offers hospital information systems and revenue cycle solutions, often used in community hospitals.
• athenahealth — Cloud-based ambulatory EHR, billing, and practice management with network-enabled services.
• NextGen Healthcare — Ambulatory-focused EHR and practice management with specialty templates.
• GE Healthcare Centricity — Clinical and enterprise solutions for hospitals and outpatient services, including imaging integrations.
• eClinicalWorks — Ambulatory EHR and practice management with patient engagement tools.
• Oracle Health (formerly part of Oracle Cerner integration offerings) — Enterprise health IT and cloud infrastructure for large systems post-acquisition.
• Infor Healthcare — Administrative and financial systems used alongside EHRs for back-office operations.

Open source alternatives to cerner

• OpenMRS — A widely used open-source medical record system designed for flexibility in low-resource settings and adaptable to many use cases.
• GNU Health — Open-source health and hospital information system that includes clinical, administrative, and public health modules.
• OpenEMR — Free open-source electronic medical record and practice management solution with internationalization and multiple modules.
• OSCAR EMR — Community-driven open-source EHR used primarily in primary care settings.
• VistA (OpenVista derivatives) — The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs VistA system has open-source variants used as hospital information systems in some deployments.

Frequently asked questions about Cerner

What is Cerner used for?

Cerner is used for electronic health records and hospital information systems. Healthcare organizations use it to document clinical care, enter and manage orders, coordinate patient care across settings, and run revenue cycle and administrative functions. It supports inpatient and ambulatory workflows as well as analytics and population health programs.

Does Cerner provide APIs for third-party apps?

Yes, Cerner provides FHIR-based APIs through its developer portal. The Cerner Open Developer Experience publishes API documentation, sandbox access, and example integrations to help developers build and test applications that access clinical and administrative data.

How much does Cerner cost per user per month?

Cerner starts at Custom monthly pricing since enterprise EHR contracts are quoted based on scope, number of facilities, and modules required. Monthly figures, when used for hosted models, are provided after a formal assessment and proposal.

Is there a free version of Cerner?

No, Cerner does not offer a free enterprise EHR. Access to Cerner's full clinical and administrative suite requires a commercial license or subscription; however, developer sandboxes and limited testing environments are available for integration work through Cerner's developer program.

Can Cerner integrate with medical devices and labs?

Yes, Cerner integrates with devices and laboratory systems. The platform supports HL7 messaging, device interfaces, and FHIR-based exchanges to capture results, device data, and imaging information into the patient record.

Does Cerner support cloud hosting?

Yes, Cerner supports hosted and cloud-based deployment models. Customers can choose on-premises, vendor-hosted, or cloud-managed environments; hosting options affect operational responsibilities, uptime SLAs, and recurring costs.

How secure is Cerner for patient data?

Cerner implements industry-standard security and compliance controls. The platform supports encrypted data transport, access control, audit logging, and compliance with regional privacy regulations; organizations should review specific certifications and contractual terms in vendor documentation.

Can Cerner be used for population health management?

Yes, Cerner includes analytics and population health tools. These capabilities allow care managers to identify cohorts, manage care gaps, and run quality and performance reports using aggregated clinical and claims data.

How long does a Cerner implementation take?

Implementation timelines vary widely and are typically measured in months to years. Small ambulatory installs can be completed faster, while multi-hospital enterprise rollouts require extensive planning, data migration, workflow design, and staged go-lives.

Does Cerner offer revenue cycle management features?

Yes, Cerner includes revenue cycle and financial management modules. These modules handle scheduling, charge capture, coding, claim submission, and denial management and are designed to integrate clinical documentation with billing processes.

cerner careers

Cerner offers technical, clinical informatics, implementation consulting, product management, and sales roles to support software development and customer deployments. Careers often require healthcare domain knowledge for clinical roles and experience with enterprise software delivery for technical positions. Candidates can review job listings and corporate culture information via Cerner's career portal at Cerner careers (https://www.cerner.com/careers).

cerner affiliate

Cerner partners with systems integrators, consulting firms, and ISVs that implement, extend, and support Cerner solutions. Affiliates include certified implementation partners, resellers, and application developers who participate in the developer ecosystem. Organizations looking to partner with Cerner should consult the official partner program pages for requirements and certification details.

Where to find cerner reviews

Independent reviews and user feedback are available on healthcare IT research sites, industry analyst reports, and customer case studies. Prospective buyers should review peer-reviewed case studies, speak with reference customers of similar size, and consult analyst research for comparative evaluations. For vendor-published case studies and white papers, consult Cerner's customer resources at Cerner's insights and resources (https://www.cerner.com/newsroom).