Intermountain Healthcare, known around the world for its laser focus on care quality and its pioneering work with data analytics, will deploy Cerner's electronic medical record and revenue cycle technology across all of Intermountain's hospitals and clinics.

The nonprofit healthcare system includes 22 hospitals, a medical group with more than 185 physician clinics, and an affiliated health insurance company, SelectHealth - all operated on an in-house built clinical system.

Intermountain's choice of an EMR vendor comes in a marketplace where only two companies - Epic and Cerner - seem to be in competition for such large and complex EHR deployments. Intermoutain's selection of Cerner has already been tagged as influential.

"This is a landmark deal not just because of the potential size, but because Intermountain is widely regarded as a forward-thinking organization, and will likely influence future decisions down the road," writes Piper Jaffray Senior Research Analyst Sean Wieland in a brief on Sept. 27, the same day Intermountain executives announced their plans.

"We have very set ideas on how we think these systems should work, and we feel very passionately about it," said Intermountain CIO Marc Probst, in a video announcement. "Intermountain is committed to being innovative in the area of information systems."

"We looked closely not just at what we presently do - could we somehow kludge across what we presently do - but we had a pretty good sense of what was next," said Brent James, MD, chief quality officer at Intermountain. "Can it change and adapt to that next world - a better world, frankly - levels of patient care beyond what we do today."

Cerner's open architecture technology was critical to Intermountain's decision to partner with the EHR vendor, Probst said. Among other advantages, the open architecture will allow for the addition of the new Intermountain content, and, by all accounts, the Cerner work will help to enhance the clinical decision support for which Intermountain is well known.

"Intermountain is committed to being innovative in the area of information systems," Probst said. "We have pillars of innovation that I don't think will go away. I think what will happen is some of the foundation will change under those pillars."

On the East Coast, Boston-based Partners HealthCare is undergoing a similar changeover, pulling out its homegrown system for one from Epic.

"It was a competitive bakeoff between Epic and Cerner," writes Wieland in his analysis. "Cerner prevailed," he says, "because of its capabilities in the areas of population health management, predictive analytics and commitment to open architecture, in addition to having a comparable set of workflow tools."

"This alliance will help Intermountain to continue its focus on providing high quality care," said Charles Sorenson, MD, president and chief executive of Intermountain, in a news release. "It will help us prepare for a future where we must focus even more on providing the best possible care for our patients at a cost that is sustainable."

Intermountain's selection of Cerner was the result of a comprehensive yearlong decision-making process, executives noted in making the announcement. Intermountain looked at a range of criteria, including clinical and financial functionality, innovative culture and important population health-related benchmarks such as supplier commitment to the open interchange of information.

Cerner Chairman and CEO Neal Patterson pointed to his longtime relationship with Intermountain.

"Several decades ago, when I was just starting out, I would go to Intermountain to listen and learn," Patterson said in a statement. "Intermountain has a globally recognized focus on systematically working to increase quality and decrease cost. Intermountain's vision around shared accountability represents the future of healthcare."

James noted that Cerner is placing "a very significant part of their whole company here in Utah to work with us to make this happen."

Several key Cerner leaders and staff, with Cerner Executive Vice President Jeff Townsend in the lead, will relocate from Kansas City to Salt Lake City for the deployment.

"We understand the content; they understand the underlying IT infrastructure, and together we're going to create a new future," James said. "We share a common vision to improve care for populations of people."

The partnership with Cerner, he said, would accelerate Intermountain's efforts to provide core functionality to caregivers even as they continue to innovate.
"We need a system that can adapt as fast as our physicians and nurses adapt," James added. "When you think of an electronic medical record, you have to realize it's only a tool. Our mission has been and always will be the best patient care currently available at an executable level where we consistently perform on behalf of our patients."