Finland Regional Leadership and Cerner Collaborate on Vision for Integrated Health and Care

KANSAS CITY, Mo., Sept. 10, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- (Nasdaq: CERN), a global health care technology company, announced a collaboration with Finland regional leadership that is expected to deliver more coordinated and efficient access to health and social services through a government-sponsored set of standards. This announcement comes at a time when Finland is undergoing a transformation to shift responsibility for the organization of health and social services from municipal based health and social care to combined regional authorities.

Aster, a co-operational organization across four of Finland’s nineteen regions; including Central Finland, Ostrobothnia, South Savo and North Karelia; is actively working to establish the new health care and social services system. The co-designed digital platform will support the delivery of an enhanced, streamlined approach to the provision of health and social services, providing citizens with access to integrated outpatient and inpatient care, behavioral health services, services for families with children, dental and more.

The project will be executed in two phases: the first phase focused on development and planning over a one-year period. Subject to the parties’ agreement of a shared plan, Cerner plans to contract with Aster to deliver the second phase, in which the technology is delivered and implemented.

As part of this effort, approximately 15,000 clinicians and 10,000 social service workers will receive additional support to address the unique needs of an evolving integrated health and social welfare system. Aster seeks to increase transparency between social and health care organizations, give experts better visibility into population data in one system and empower citizens to access their holistic and aggregated information.

“As these four districts come together to build a new model of health care and social services for our citizens, we needed a leading technology partner with local experience and presence that could integrate care across boundaries and populations. With Cerner’s expertise in health technology, along with the company’s experience in the international and Nordic markets, we are confident this decision will support our mission,” said Simo Reipas, director, Aster. “Our 25,000 clinical and social staff work very hard to take excellent care of our citizens. As we transform our care delivery model, it’s our duty to equip our staff with the advanced technology, like Cerner^®, designed to support their ability to deliver care and social services and enable our citizens to participate in their own services.”

“Finland’s government is undergoing remarkable transformation intended to enhance how health and social care is delivered to its constituents. Cerner is honored to be selected as the technology to support this renowned journey and looks forward to working with Aster on architecting the visionary integrated platform for care,” said Emil Peters, president, Cerner Global. “Aster provides a vast array of care to its communities and we believe Cerner’s technology will provide a coordinated and organized care team approach, with care encounters now connected throughout patients’ health and social care journey. Other government entities will benefit from the precedent Aster is setting.”

About Cerner

Cerner’s health technologies connect people and information systems in 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 ,  or connect on , , ,  or . Nasdaq: CERN. Health care is too important to stay the same.

Media Contacts:

Cerner

Stephanie Greenwood, Media Relations,

All statements in this press release that do not directly and exclusively relate to historical facts constitute forward-looking statements.  These forward-looking statements are based on the current beliefs, expectations and assumptions of Cerner's management with respect to future events and are subject to a number of significant risks and uncertainties.  It is important to note that Cerner's performance, and actual results, financial condition or business could differ materially from those expressed in such forward-looking statements. The words “expects”, “believe”, or the negative of these words, variations thereof or similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. For example, our forward-looking statements include statements regarding the future benefits or synergies of the collaboration and the agreement on final terms of a shared plan.  Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to: the possibility of significant costs and reputational harm related to product and service-related liabilities; potential claims for system errors and warranties; the possibility of interruption at our data centers or client support facilities, or those of third parties with whom we have contracted (such as public cloud providers), that could expose us to significant costs and reputational harm; the possibility of increased expenses, exposure to legal claims and regulatory actions and reputational harm associated with a cyberattack or other breach in our IT security or the IT security of third parties on which we rely; our proprietary technology may be subject to claims for infringement or misappropriation of intellectual property rights of others, or may be infringed or misappropriated by others or subject to claims related to open source licenses; material adverse resolution of legal proceedings or other claims or reputational harm stemming from negative publicity related to such claims or legal proceedings; risks associated with our global operations; the uncertainty surrounding the impact of the departure of the United Kingdom from the European Union on our global business; risks associated with the unexpected loss or recruitment and retention of key personnel or the failure to successfully develop and execute succession planning to assure transitions of key associates and their knowledge, relationships and expertise; risks related to our dependence on strategic relationships and third party suppliers, including any impact to the business of such suppliers resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic; risks associated with volatility and disruption resulting from global economic or market conditions, including any impact thereon resulting from events such as the COVID-19 pandemic; significant competition and our ability to anticipate or respond quickly to market changes, changing technologies and evolving pricing and deployment methods and to bring competitive new solutions, devices, features and services to market in a timely fashion; managing growth in the new markets in which we offer solutions, health care devices or services; long sales cycles for our solutions and services; risks inherent in contracting with government clients, including without limitation, complying with strict compliance and disclosure obligations, navigating complex procurement rules and processes and defending against bid protests; changing political, economic, regulatory and judicial influences, which could impact the purchasing practices and operations of our clients and increase costs to deliver compliant solutions and services; non-compliance with laws, government regulations or certain industry initiatives or failure to deliver solutions or services that enable our clients to comply with laws or regulations applicable to their businesses; the extent to which the COVID-19 pandemic and measures taken in response thereto could adversely affect our financial condition, future bookings and results of operations, including risks associated with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on collecting accounts receivable; and, failure of the parties to achieve the intended benefits of the collaboration.. Additional discussion of these and other risks, uncertainties and factors affecting Cerner's business is contained in Cerner's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The reader should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, since the statements speak only as of the date that they are made. Except as required by law, Cerner undertakes no obligation to update or revise forward-looking statements to reflect changed assumptions, the occurrence of unanticipated events, or changes in our business, results of operations or financial condition over time.