From Cerner to Oracle Health: Building Partnerships That Last

Phil:

Welcome to the Cerecore Podcast, where we focus on the intersection of healthcare and IT. From practical conversations to strategic thought leadership, let's unpack the decisions, challenges, and journey of those whose purpose it is to deliver technology that improves healthcare in their communities. Today we're pleased to welcome to the Cerecore podcast, Richard Barrett. Richard is the senior director of Oracle Health Services at Cerecore, where he leads efforts to enhance and expand our Oracle Health capabilities. He brings more than two decades of experience with Cerner, now Oracle Health. Over the course of his career, Richard has guided implementations, optimizations, go lives, support, and advisory services for some of the nation's largest health systems. With deep expertise in the Oracle ecosystem and strong relationships across the network, Richard is helping Cerecore elevate their Oracle Health practice that offers strategic guidance, knowledgeable talent, scalable support services, and real value for healthcare providers. Richard, welcome to the Cerecore podcast.

Richard Barrett:

Thank you so much for having me. I've been looking forward to joining you.

Phil:

Well, Richard, we're thrilled that you chose to join our team after years with Cerner and then Oracle Health. If you wouldn't mind, please share some of, a bit of your professional journey and then ultimately what brought you here to Cerecore.

Richard Barrett:

Sure, sure. So I started my journey with what was Cerner, now Oracle Health, as we say, back in the early 2000s. I was an intern, so I worked my way up from an internship for two years, was in the finance department, and then came on full time and spent a number of years within finance. I loved my time in finance, but I figured I'm not meant to be behind a desk.

Phil:

Got it.

Richard Barrett:

I won't discount the time I had because I learned about contracts and financial management and what the professional services organizations were doing and things of that nature. So it really did set the stage for the foundation of what I would go do in the rest of my career. I moved from a financial perspective into a consulting perspective, so I was younger back then and didn't have the white hair on my chin, and I really wanted to travel. I wanted to see the world, and I knew there were a lot of implementations going on.

I was right before the meaningful use kind of rollout, so I had a pretty good foundation before I was thrust into all that. But it was great. I traveled all over the United States. The farthest place I think I ever went was Dubai. I got to spend a couple of months in Dubai, which was incredible, and I wouldn't trade it for the world. One of my first clients was in Miami, so I spent two years in Miami, enjoyed every minute of it except for Christmas. It was a little weird to see a convertible hauling a Christmas tree, but-

Phil:

Understandable. Yes.

Richard Barrett:

I quickly learned how to adapt, and we converted that tenant hospital back in the meaningful use days. And then I just began moving from hospital to hospital, building relationships, getting to know people, and spent some time up in the Chicago area. The Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation was extremely important in my career and learning our behavioral health solutions and what we could do for drug addiction and things of that nature. And then I went on to work on some of our largest clients, so Ascension, Community Health Systems, things of that nature. And really got to understand the complexity of hospital system that has a hundred plus hospitals and how all the inner workings work within that, from a sales to consulting to implementation, all the different pieces and parts. And I did that for a number of years as well. So I like to call myself a little bit well-rounded within the Oracle Health space, and I wouldn't trade any of it for the world.

Phil:

That's great. And it's certainly always intriguing to hear the stories about how people, how they started their career, and then just how that progressed, and the opportunities that have presented themselves and then what you've done with those opportunities. So that's tremendous. Well, let's chat a little bit about Cerner, certainly as a platform and as a company. They've gone through a tremendous transformation over the years, particularly the last several years. So from your perspective, what are some of the biggest shifts that you've seen with the platform and the company, and perhaps what call-outs do you have in and around that?

Richard Barrett:

Yeah, I mean, technology has advanced tenfold since I started years ago. We had the old phones on the desk and now you don't see any of that anymore. You see cell phones and AI assist and all those sorts of things. And one of the biggest progressions is the cloud and SaaS model. So no more on-prem hardware that was causing such technical debt within a hospital. They could move it all to a data center that would manage that for them so they could focus on what they want to focus on and what they're really good at, which is the clinical expertise.

And then one of the others is interoperability. Patients as they travel throughout the United States and the world, they don't want to hold a briefcase full of their patient information. And Cerner is on the forefront of establishing the Commonwealth network, which is one of several that are out there today. But Neal's passion and drive was to get that patient data at the right time to the right location. One of his big journeys was his wife and her cancer diagnosis. And the picture that I think everyone has seen is him carrying the briefcase that's just binders and binders full of data. And he made that decision that we've got to go stop that. And it's really changed the world as we know it as far as patients and how they manage their healthcare today.

Phil:

Indeed. It's certainly, it's amazing when you have an organization, software is software, and certain, you're looking at that and then all of a sudden it becomes real. And it was very interesting to see that transformation. You never want to have people go through situations like that. Happens every day, but to then be able to say, "We have to do something about this. We have to make this better for the patient, for the families, for the experience as a whole." So certainly very transformational.

Richard Barrett:

Yeah. I mean, Neal certainly believed in transparency, and I think that's why he lived his life with photographs and stories. His tagline was, "It's personal," and he truly meant it. And as Cerner was smaller back then, we all felt it. We all knew it. He said, "Don't be in this company if it doesn't mean something to you." And so we all had our story.

Phil:

No, and you have to. You have to kind of have that connection to ultimately what you're truly trying to accomplish.

Richard Barrett:

Absolutely.

Phil:

That's great. So as we all know, the Oracle acquisition of Cerner was really a pivotal moment for the industry. How has that changed the way that health systems view Oracle Health, and what does it mean for partner organizations like Cerecore?

Richard Barrett:

Yeah, Oracle Health is an enterprise solution. So no longer are we focusing within the four walls or even in the clinician or registration space. It's about ERP, it's about the accounting space, it's about GL. It's about all the different aspects of the hospital that a lot of companies can't bring to the table. The old Cerner stumbled. We'll allow that to be said, and it's okay. COVID was hard for a lot of different companies, especially Cerner, because a lot of engineers left for the big companies. They could stay home in Kansas City and still make a good living by switching.

And so engineering slowed, but as Oracle saw what Cerner had the potential to do and to rebrand in Oracle Health is just tremendous. So I've been to a lot of conferences and talked to a lot of people in the Oracle Health space. And what they're rolling out now took a little bit of time, but they wanted to get it right. And I think what we're poised to go do in the hospitals is just incredible. Cerecore is hitting it at the right time, right place to go impact patient care across the country.

Phil:

Yeah, no, that's excellent. I think there's, we talk about the differences a little bit between legacy Cerner and Oracle, and certainly Oracle has always been a partner-centric organization. And so there's been a lot of talk recently about Oracle Health moving towards that partner-driven support model. What does that look like in practice, and how do you see it shaping or reshaping some of those client expectations who have been on the legacy Cerner platform for a number of years?

Richard Barrett:

Yeah, Cerner was consulting. I mean, their biggest line of business was consulting. Their biggest revenue generator was consulting. And making that shift was hard because Oracle is a technology platform. They focus well on it. That's what they do well, and they don't want to keep their eye off what they're doing from a technology perspective. And so I commend them to allow someone else to go do that, right? I had a phone call. I've had several with the Oracle partner network people. I had one this morning that was just really collaborative in what they want to go share as part of their journey and how that gets rolled out faster and faster and faster. And again, Cerecore is within weeks of what they're releasing. So we are on top of the latest and greatest technology implementations and tapping into what they know so that we can go help our hospitals and health systems as well.

Phil:

Yeah, no, that's excellent. We talked a little bit at the top about your experience. You've led implementations and optimizations on the platform, advisory services in and around that for some of those nations' largest systems, like we discussed. What are some of the perhaps insights from those experiences that are most relevant today? It seems like while technology changes, a lot of those core experiences, a lot of those core things, they tend to remain the same. So if you had some words of wisdom in and around that, what would they be?

Richard Barrett:

Yeah. Two of the things that have not and will not change in any technology implementation is governance and the clinical buy-in to go do it. So it's important that even when a hospital health system sign with a vendor, they should have been putting together their governance structures six, eight, 12 months ahead of time, especially in the larger networks. Now, I'm not discounting any smaller beds as well, but having that governance set up and how they're going to roll it out, what it means to the patients, what it means to the clinicians and registration in every other area of the hospital is extremely important. When I went into a hospital or health system, I found the grumpiest old doctor I could find, and I started there, right? They speak the loudest. They're set in their ways, and that's okay. I come from a healthcare family, so I'm going to say I can say that.

Phil:

That's right.

Richard Barrett:

And ensuring that they understood the importance of what we wanted to go help them do was just paramount to what the success of the larger implementation would be.

Phil:

Yeah, no, that makes great sense. So as the leader of Cerecore's Oracle Health practice, what do you see are the most pressing issues that healthcare organizations using Oracle Health today are facing?

Richard Barrett:

Yeah, with political headwinds and how they're shaping within this country and beyond, it's important for those systems to have a healthy ROI, right? So they can't just be putting in technology to put in technology. There's got to be a reason behind that. Margins are razor-thin, and if they are looking to switch or looking to optimize, it's important that their partner that they've chosen know how to do that and know how to do that well. So we need to look to health systems that not only are healthy on their books, but are struggling. So the rural hospitals that Medicare or Medicaid may be not coming in as much anymore, they've got to see their dollars stretched. And so we are poised to go help them stabilize, optimize, and seeing a larger return on their investment that they've either already made or are looking to make.

Phil:

That's a great point, and I think that speaks to the desired, I mean, partnership is sometimes a really, really overused word, but kind of that partnership between the provider and an organization like ourselves, and then the software vendor, Oracle Health. So what in your mind makes that kind of trifecta partnership? What are those key aspects that just have to be there in order to make that successful going forward?

Richard Barrett:

Yeah, it's important that you care. I go back to what Neil was saying, it's personal. I have a thousand stories I could tell, but there was a hospital in Chicago that I joined mid-career that was struggling with their implementation. Things weren't going well. One of my good friends called and said, "You're going to Chicago," so I went to Chicago. And it was difficult, but it was important for me to go do that because I knew that that community system needed to survive.

And growing the relationships that I grew with those people was important. And just like Neal, if you're not going to go do this for a personal reason, don't be in it. Go to another sector. I love to tell people that the now CIO was at my wedding. And it's true. We developed a true friendship through all the work that we did, and I have made it a point in my life to go do this work, not just to implement hospital systems, but to do it for a reason. And so building trust, building friendships is, people don't understand the soft skills as much as they should within this area that we are focusing on.

Phil:

No, that's good. I would say looking at today's market, there's awful lot of conversation about AI, a lot of conversation about integration, all of those sorts of things. What are some of the trends, opportunities that excite you most about the future of Oracle Health inside of the provider space?

Richard Barrett:

Yeah, they are one of the leaders in the AI space. Their clinical agent that they've released to some partners is just incredible in what they do. I've seen a little bit of it. I'm starting to see a lot more, which is just really cool. I think it will grow exponentially in the next few years. And again, back to what those hospitals can do to ensure the burnout of physicians is not something that they have to deal with is incredibly important. The cloud migration, so a lot of hospitals move their data center to off-prem as far as on-prem, but now it's time to go to a full SaaS model. And understanding what that means and what that means to their data, what it means to their workflow, what it means to their stability within their network.

It's really mind-boggling where we've come, but it's just going to go faster. And health systems don't have time to go understand all of that. And building a network for partner that does, and it's our bread and butter. We are a healthcare technology company. We are nothing else. Nothing else. And that is what we are tasked to go do. So I'm super excited about that journey.

Phil:

And I think we're all very waiting with anticipation to see what's coming down the pipe from an Oracle standpoint. For those of us who decades ago came out of the ERP space, Oracle is a common, we've known Oracle for years and years and years. They've been on the forefront of the most advanced database development. They were on the forefront of e-commerce, of all of the web, I mean, back in the dot-com days, everyone was on an Oracle platform. And then having a world-class ERP system, so they've been in and around the space for a long, long time, and they know advanced technology and how to bring it to bear for organizations. And they've now got a really, really strong team in and around healthcare with a lot of history and a lot of knowledge.

And it's very interesting to see and watch the coming together of that super advanced technology that quite frankly, the provider space just hasn't seen, right? Outside of maybe their ERP system or some of the other sides of things, but not in the clinical workflow space. So it's going to be interesting to see over the next few years just how that develops, and I know you're chomping at the bit to make sure that we get our Oracle Health customers there as quickly as possible. And so as we wrap this up, Richard, I always like to have kind of just one final wrap-up question. And maybe we'll take this down to more of a personal note. Perhaps just share with our audience, what's most exciting to you about coming to an organization like ours and about leading the group in and around Oracle Health and about what you can deliver for them on a go-forward basis?

Richard Barrett:

Yeah, as I've met the team, and I was able to meet several prior to coming on board, I've tried to make some strategic plays in my life, and Cerecore is a lot like the old Cerner. People care. People want to do what's right for our clinicians, and people want to ensure that the hospitals that they serve are at their peak performance. And yes, it can sound cliche, and that's fine. You can call me that. I don't care. But again, I chose this career and this life based off what I believe in is important, and the people that Cerecore has put in place anywhere from the consultant all the way up to our CEO is just incredible.

And I did get to meet with him, and he said to me, he goes, "Our culture is the people, and if that's not what you want to be as far as a leader within our company, don't join." And it sparked those Neal bells that went off. And so I said, "Okay, let's go do this." So I'm very excited to go build this strategy and build this journey that we're going to go on with Oracle Health.

Phil:

Excellent. Well, Richard, like I said earlier, thrilled to have you on board. I can't wait for us to really not only continue to grow, but expand our footprint of clients that we're serving in and the Oracle Health and Cerner space. And I'm excited to see how that continues to evolve and transform. There's a lot of need out there right now, and I know under your leadership that we're going to be able to not only meet, but exceed the expectations in and around that. So Richard, thank you so much for your time today and for joining us on the Cerecore podcast.

Richard Barrett:

Thank you so much, Phil. I was very excited to join you and to have this conversation today.

Phil:

Excellent.

Thanks for listening to the Cerecore podcast. We hope you enjoyed this conversation. Follow us on your favorite podcast platform for more episodes. Connect with us on LinkedIn. Visit our US website at Cerecore.net. And for those abroad, visit CerecoreInternational.net. Learn more about our services and find resources. At Cerecore, we are healthcare operators at heart and know the difference that the right IT partner can make in delivering quality patient care 24/7. Let's help make IT better. Here's to the journey.