EHR giant Cerner is now one step closer to completing its pending acquisition of Siemens Health Services, after the Federal Trade Commission gave the go ahead to an early termination of the deal's waiting period under antitrust laws.  

 

The acquisition, still subject to other closing conditions, remains on course for a first quarter 2015 closure, officials noted. Cerner, which announced its acquisition plans back in August, will purchase the Siemens Health Services for $1.3 billion in cash.  

 

[See also: Cerner, Siemens and the future of EHRs.]

 

"We're pleased to have cleared this important regulatory hurdle and to be one step closer to integrating Siemens Health Services and its clients into the Cerner family," said Dick Flanigan, Cerner senior vice president, in a Sept. 18 press statement.  

 

The combined revenue of the two companies will bring in $4.5 billion annually, Cerner officials noted. Siemens Health Services' employees combined with Cerner's 14,200 associates will total nearly 20,000 associates across more than 30 countries. 

 

When asked how this acquisition would affect customer attrition back when Cerner made the announcement in August, Marc Naughton, chief financial officer at Cerner, said, "Certainly that was a key concern for us … we understand that we're going to have to create a very secure future for these clients."

 

Cerner officials plan to support and advance the Siemens' Soarian platform for at least the next 10 years, with current implementations poised to continue.

 

"We're just going to win their trust and show them an unbelievable value proposition going forward," said Cerner CEO Neal Patterson, back in an August press call. "It will be work. It isn't anything we don't know how to do." 

 

Siemens Health Services' 2014 fiscal year revenues were estimated at $1.2 billion and, in the past few years, have stayed fairly flat over a period of time, Cerner officials noted on the call.

 

[See also: Cerner to buy Siemens health IT unit.]

 

"The concerns right now are, fundamentally, reaching out to the customer base, letting them know what's going on, and also reaching out to the staff, telling them what this all means, talking to people about what the plan is," said John Glaser, CEO of Siemens Health Services, who spoke to Healthcare IT News last month. "Until we clear certain regulatory hurdles there's only so far in certain conversations we can go."

 

Now that one regulatory hurdle is out of the way, Glaser said the more extensive conversations about how the two organizations will be merged can begin. 

 

Cerner was one of only three EHR vendors to increase its market share in 2013, seeing GAAP net earnings stand at $398.4 million, up from $397.2 million in 2012. 2013 bookings also reached a record high, at $3.77 billion, up 20 percent from 2012.

 

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