Oracle buys medical records company Cerner for $28 billion

Oracle Corporation (ORCL) reached an agreement to acquire electronic medical records company Cerner, the companies jointly announced on Monday. The all-cash deal is valued at about $95.00 per share, or approximately $28.3 billion in equity value. The deal is expected to close next year.

Also read: Facebook, TikTok, Twitter fined by Russia over illegal content

Hospitals and physicians offices use Cerner software to record and share health and medical data. The companies said Monday that Cerner systems running on the Oracle Gen2 Cloud will be available 24 hours a day, every day, with the goal of having zero unplanned downtime.

“Working together, Cerner and Oracle have the capacity to transform healthcare delivery by providing medical professionals with better information—enabling them to make better treatment decisions resulting in better patient outcomes,” said Larry Ellison, Chairman and Chief Technology Officer, Oracle.

Also read: Washington DC to reinstate indoor mask mandate, mayor Muriel Bowser announces

He added that Oracle aims to assume the responsibility to provide our overworked medical professionals with a new generation of easier-to-use digital tools that enable access to information via a hands-free voice interface to secure cloud applications and improve patient privacy and outcomes, and lower overall healthcare costs. 

“Joining Oracle as a dedicated Industry Business Unit provides an unprecedented opportunity to accelerate our work modernizing electronic health records (EHR), improving the caregiver experience, and enabling more connected, high-quality and efficient patient care. We are also very excited that Oracle is committed to maintaining and growing our community presence, including in the Kansas City area,” said David Feinberg, President and Chief Executive Officer, Cerner.

Also read: Trump sues NY attorney general seeking to end civil probe

Oracle stock dropped 2.7% to 93.99 during the morning trade. Cerner stock edged up 1% to 90.60.

The second largest seller of  electronic health records software after Epic Systems, Cerner helps hospitals to store and analyse health care data.