Cerner: Pricing, Reviews, and Alternatives
Cerner offers an electronic health record (EHR) platform called Millennium, designed to help healthcare professionals document and access critical patient data, streamline workflows, improve patient safety, and enhance the overall patient experience. As part of Cerner's mission to achieve a world without medical error, Millennium supports an enterprise-wide view of clinical information, coordinates patient care, and provides access to the right information at the right time. In this article, we'll share the key facts you need to know about Cerner and its EHR software, Millennium.
How much does Cerner cost?
Pricing information for Cerner's Millennium isn't currently available. To get pricing details, it's best to contact Cerner directly. However, based on industry knowledge, here's a rough estimate of costs for different healthcare settings and sizes:
Hospitals
- Small Hospitals (up to 100 beds): Estimated Cost: $1.5 - $3 million initial setup, plus $500,000 - $800,000 annually for maintenance and support.
- Medium Hospitals (100 - 500 beds): Estimated Cost: $3 - $12 million initial setup, plus $800,000 - $1.5 million annually.
- Large Hospitals (over 500 beds): Estimated Cost: $12 - $30 million initial setup, plus $1.5 - $3 million annually.
Specialty Groups and Clinics
- Small Clinics (1-10 providers): Estimated Cost: $200,000 - $500,000 initial setup, plus $100,000 - $250,000 annually.
- Medium Specialty Groups (10-50 providers): Estimated Cost: $500,000 - $2 million initial setup, plus $250,000 - $600,000 annually.
- Large Specialty Groups (over 50 providers): Estimated Cost: $2 - $5 million initial setup, plus $600,000 - $1.2 million annually.
Primary Care Practices
- Small Practices (1-3 providers): Estimated Cost: $100,000 - $300,000 initial setup, plus $50,000 - $150,000 annually.
- Medium Practices (4-10 providers): Estimated Cost: $300,000 - $700,000 initial setup, plus $150,000 - $300,000 annually.
- Large Practices (over 10 providers): Estimated Cost: $700,000 - $2 million initial setup, plus $300,000 - $600,000 annually.
Note that these estimates may vary based on customization, contract terms, volume discounts, ongoing costs, and financial assistance availability.
Benefits and differentiators Cerner
While Epic has many applications, three key areas are especially noteworthy:
- Mobile Apps: Cerner's PowerChart Touch, a mobile app for tablets and smartphones, allows healthcare professionals to review patient charts, use voice dictation, document allergies, symptoms, and health histories, and draft and sign progress notes
- Interoperability and Data Analytics: Supports interoperability with other systems and offers robust data analytics capabilities for valuable insights from patient data
- Streamlined Workflow and Patient Engagement: Streamlines administrative tasks like appointment scheduling and billing, and includes patient portals for better engagement and participation in care
Scenarios where Cerner is a good choice
Cerner's EMR shines in various situations. It's especially suitable for healthcare organizations that prioritize patient safety and error reduction, as Cerner's Millennium is designed with these goals in mind. For organizations with a strong focus on interoperability and seamless data exchange, Cerner's commitment to open standards and collaboration makes it an excellent choice. Additionally, healthcare facilities that require a highly customizable EMR solution to cater to their unique needs will find Cerner's flexible architecture and wide range of modules beneficial.
Scenarios where Cerner may not be a good choice
Cerner's Millennium may be overly complex and costly for small practices with limited resources, posing challenges in justifying its high implementation and maintenance costs, especially if advanced features are unnecessary. It may not be ideal for single-specialty healthcare facilities due to its comprehensive, multi-specialty focus. Additionally, its extensive customization and module range can prolong deployment and steepen the learning curve, conflicting with goals for rapid, smooth EMR system transitions.Healthcare facilities in areas with limited Cerner support may struggle to obtain timely assistance, making EMR providers with better local support more practical.
While Cerner's Millennium is advanced and feature-rich, it may not suit smaller practices, single-specialty facilities, or those prioritizing ease of use and quick implementation, with local support availability being a key consideration.
Reviews of Cerner
Users on G2 have given Cerner an overall rating of 3.5 out of 5. Below, we've summarized some of their key pros and cons of the platform.
Positives in Cerner's Reviews
- Ease of Customization and Integration: Users appreciate Cerner's ability to customize charting features and integrate patient information from various sources, enhancing the care coordination process.
- Patient Engagement Tools: The MyChart feature in Cerner, which allows patients to view their medical information, schedule appointments, and communicate with doctors, is particularly praised for enhancing patient engagement.
- User-Friendly Interface: Several users noted Cerner's user-friendly interface, with some mentioning its intuitiveness and ease of navigation, even for first-time users.
Negatives in Cerner's Reviews
- Complexity and Learning Curve: Some users pointed out that Cerner's complexity and extensive features can make it relatively difficult to learn and navigate, particularly for new users.
- Cost and Resource Intensiveness: A few reviews highlighted that implementing and maintaining Cerner can be resource-intensive, requiring substantial internal employee involvement and training.
- Limited Customization in Certain Areas: There were mentions of limitations in health maintenance options and difficulties in certain customizations.
Alternatives to Cerner
For scenarios where Cerner may not be the best fit, we've compiled a list of alternative EMR systems that cater to different needs and requirements:
Small Practices with Limited Resources:
- eClinicalWorks: Provides affordable and user-friendly solutions tailored for smaller practices, without the extensive complexities and costs of larger systems.
- Practice Fusion: Known for its cost-effective and straightforward EMR system, suitable for small healthcare facilities with simpler needs.
Single-Specialty Healthcare Facilities:
- Kareo: Offers specialized solutions that cater specifically to single-specialty practices, focusing on the unique needs of such organizations.
- NextGen Healthcare: Provides targeted EMR solutions for single-specialty practices, emphasizing ease of use and specialty-specific functionality.
Organizations Prioritizing Rapid Implementation and Ease of Use:
- Athenahealth: Known for its quick implementation process and intuitive interface, making it ideal for organizations seeking a smooth transition to a new EMR system.
- Meditech: Offers a balance of functionality and user-friendliness, with a focus on streamlined implementation and operation.
How you can use Tennr to get the most out of your EMR.
At Tennr, we understand the challenges that come with using an EMR like Cerner. That's where we come in. While we're not an EMR ourselves, we specialize in integrating with them to automate the repetitive tasks that slow down your team and your business. Our goal is to streamline your processes, making things smoother so you can focus more on patient care.
Opportunities for automating EMR tasks.
Here are a couple of places in Cerner where bringing in Tennr could really help. Check out Tennr and sign up today to explore how we can help you!
Inbound Referrals:
We can streamline how you handle incoming referrals in Cerner. It uses AI to pull patient details and then RPA (robotic process automation) to set up new patient profiles and book appointments. This not only saves time but also cuts down on those tedious data entry mistakes. Here’s a quick demo of how we do this at Tennr! 👇🏾
https://www.loom.com/share/1d6f189f56774069a4256994558362f4?sid=3c07d746-0037-4a1a-94b7-f95568acca45
Explanation of Benefits (EOB) Processing:
We also simplify the process of managing incoming EOB (Explanation of Benefits) documents in Cerner. It efficiently identifies essential information, such as claim numbers and CPT codes, and seamlessly integrates these payments into the EMR. This enables quicker processing and reduces concerns about inaccuracies in payment details.
Patient scheduling:
Small to mid-sized healthcare providers often struggle with managing unstructured external referrals, while larger ones grapple with patient scheduling inefficiencies, especially for follow-up procedures. Tennr addresses this by automating the process using patient demographics. For instance, it sends casual messages with booking links to younger patients and morning calls to older ones, effectively reducing friction and enhancing patient engagement for streamlined scheduling.