KANSAS CITY, March 27, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Cerner Corporation (Nasdaq: CERN), a global health care technology company, continues to support health systems around the world as they fight the COVID-19 pandemic. Cerner has taken steps to enhance and introduce new technology offerings, waive license fees for expansion of hospital beds, join with other companies to offer virtual health solutions, provide Cerner associate assistance and offer community support globally.
“This is a critical time for our clients who continue to be pushed to unprecedented limits in their heroic efforts to protect the health and safety of organizations, patients they treat and the communities where we live and work. At Cerner, we understand our responsibility of providing the infrastructure and support they need to help combat this global pandemic,” said Brent Shafer, chairman and CEO, Cerner. “Now, more than ever, our health care clients are relying on our technology, capacity and flexibility in supporting their frontline work to care for patients.”Weeks ago, Cerner developed a dedicated COVID-19 Taskforce to make health, safety and business continuity decisions for its associates and clients across the world. Teams focused on business continuity efforts enabled the company’s move to a safer, more virtual environment and have worked around the clock to help support clients, Cerner’s worldwide associate base and communities.Cerner Client Support
Since the global onset of COVID-19, Cerner has executed numerous measures to make it easier for clients to perform life-saving work. Recently, Cerner launched a dedicated resource site giving clients access to new and updated offerings. From electronic health record to telehealth solutions, Cerner has expanded its technology to meet the needs of clients during this unprecedented time: Expand virtual care offerings for clinicians and consumers – Cerner is empowering clients to utilize telehealth to help give patients access to care while at home, and also within the acute care setting, to help mitigate the impact and spread of the virus.Limiting unnecessary clinician exposure – With existing technology, clients can use Cerner Patient Observer (CPO) to limit unnecessary exposure of staff as well as conserve personal protective equipment supplies. This technology allows for the use of a camera and two-way communication between a provider and a patient or quarantine area without being present. CPO helps health systems maintain important real-time contact with COVID-19 patients while limiting exposure.Telehealth for Patients – Cerner and AmWell are providing a ready-to-use telehealth package offering access to AmWell providers.Around the Clock Nurse Line – Together, Cerner and a population health services company are working to provide a 24/7 nurse line to help triage patient injuries and provide guidance on appropriate level of care.Remote Patient Monitoring – Using Cerner platforms, clients can access offerings from GetWellNetwork to help patients effectively monitor their symptoms from home and allow providers to triage patients to the right setting of care when and if symptoms escalate.
Relieve some stress out of care delivery – In addition to supporting clients and patients via virtual care, Cerner is assisting clients worldwide as they work to quickly implement emergency efforts to care for large volumes of COVID-19-positive patients.Waiving fees for ER capacity – As clients need to urgently expand their capacity to care for higher volumes, Cerner is waiving fees for clients that need increased licenses for expanded emergency capacity and offering to connect critical care devices at no cost.Field Hospital Support – Cerner is supporting hospitals and health systems’ unique needs as they establish field hospitals and surge locations in places like parking lots, hotels and previously closed health facilities. Cerner teams are working around the clock to help establish secure digital infrastructure to allow clients to have the ability to triage and document each patient regardless of where they are treated.IT Support – As the COVID-19 virus continues to spread, the loss of a single resource among hospital and health systems’ IT departments (i.e. a staff member who contracts the virus or an employee who lacks the equipment to maintain operations remotely) could have implications to clients’ ability to adapt and support their IT systems. Cerner Assist provides temporary services, such as Help Desk Support, Application Management Support for Cerner and non-Cerner applications and technical support to clients that are experiencing shortages in staff or technology resources.Automated Processes to Limit Exposure – Clients can utilize an automated scheduling functionality that enables them to send voice automated scheduling reminders to patients, preventing them from coming to an office or going to the wrong spot and limiting their exposure to others.Data Center Support – For clients hosted in our data centers, Cerner continues to deliver stable, scalable and secure services to each of our clients around the world. In 2019, Cerner delivered 99.99% service availability and 99.78% incident-free time for remote hosted clients.
Screen, monitor and treat patient populations for potential cases of the virus – After the first reported cases, Cerner developed and pushed a COVID-19 update to Cerner Millennium® to help health systems actively manage the ongoing threat of the virus in communities.Clients of Soarian® solutions including Clinicals, Financials and Scheduling can access strong communicable disease screening tools to help monitor patient populations for the virus. Cerner continues to release software updates to support the unique care needs during the pandemic. For example, all Cerner HealtheIntent® clients now have access to a collection of new dashboards and offerings to help clients track trends and manage patients presenting and testing positive with COVID-19 symptoms. Cerner will continue to add capabilities and reporting tools on a regular basis.Cerner Workforce Support
In addition to providing ongoing support to clients, Cerner is dedicated to protecting the health and well-being of its associates. Cerner was an early adopter of remote work (through April 30, 2020) and other social distancing measures in its worksites around the globe. Cerner has implemented policies to address the physical, mental and financial well-being of associates including:Emergency Pay for Associates – Pandemic Time Off was instituted to help protect the financial health of associates who are unable to perform their work because of COVID-19 due to a quarantine or a department or office closure. The Pandemic Time Off policy was also expanded to provide salary continuation to clinical associates who are called to, or volunteer to, respond to the COVID-19 crisis. This assists Cerner’s highly trained associates with serving their communities without fear of losing income.Best Practice Education – Cerner has made it a priority to provide education worldwide on best practices to prevent transmission and provided regular updates on how to keep associates and their families safe.Travel Limitations – Cerner restricted associate travel globally, including a temporary halt of all international and non-critical travel.On-campus Support – Although most associates are on a work from home status, some associates are in critical roles that require reporting to a physical location to help support clients’ needs. Cerner has enhanced its robust facility cleaning and strongly encouraged social distancing procedures for associates who are required to be physically present to support health systems worldwide.Virtual Support – Cerner took a mostly on-campus associate base and moved them remotely in a matter of days. Additionally, daily online activities, tools and resources are provided for associates to help focus on their mental health, stay physically active and connect with fellow associates and clients while working remote. Counseling Services – Associates have no-cost access to confidential counseling services for themselves and their dependent family members.Cerner Community Support
Cerner’s clients and associates live and work in communities across the globe and community support goes beyond a single geographical area. While Cerner is prepared to expand services and contributions as the needs of populations evolve, to date, the company, associates and their foundation – First Hand – have offered assistance to:Elizabeth Dole Foundation – focusing on the most pressing needs of the U.S. military and Veteran caregivers in the midst of crisis. The foundation is helping connect support and resources through their COVID-19 Hidden Heroes Resource Hub.Team Rubicon – a United States-based nonprofit, deploying Veterans and first responders to serve communities across the country by providing assistance such as delivery services for food-insecure populations, setting up and manning mobile testing sites, and coordination and logistics support for those in temporary quarantine through its #NeighborsHelpingNeighbors initiative.Kansas City – The Kansas City Regional COVID-19 Response and Recovery Fund, which supports nonprofits on the frontline of the effort to assist those in need.Malvern, Pa. – The Chester County Community Foundation COVID-19 Rapid Response Fund, where Cerner’s Malvern, Pa., campus and associates are located.United Kingdom – North Paddington Food Bank, that is offering food aid to those in need due to reduced work schedules, lack of food in public schools or illness preventing them from accessing food. India – Karnataka Chief Minister’s Relief Fund, partnering with the Embassy Group, has pledged to collaboratively support COVID-19 efforts in the country.
In the days, weeks and months ahead, Cerner stands ready to continue to help clients, associates and communities across the globe. To learn more about continued efforts, visit Cerner’s COVID-19 Update and Cerner’s Commitment & Support to Clients.About Cerner
Cerner’s health technologies connect people and information systems at thousands of contracted provider facilities worldwide dedicated to creating smarter and better care for individuals and communities. Recognized globally for innovation, Cerner assists clinicians in making care decisions and assists organizations in managing the health of their populations. The company also offers an integrated clinical and financial system to help manage day-to-day revenue functions, as well as a wide range of services to support clinical, financial and operational needs, focused on people. For more information, visit Cerner.com, The Cerner Blog, The Cerner Podcast or connect on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn or Twitter. Nasdaq: CERN. Health care is too important to stay the same.Media Contact:Misti Preston, Director of External Communications & Public Relations, (816) 299-2037, [email protected]
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