Cerner Expects Siemens Deal to Close in 2015

On an earnings call this week, Kansas City-based electronic health record (EHR) vendor, Cerner said it expects its deal with Siemens to close in early 2015.

Cerner's chief financial officer, Marc Naughton said that the company received regulatory clearance from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission that continued its integration and transition preparation since the announcement of the merger in August. He said that the company is on target to close the Siemens deal by February of next year. Later on the call, Naughton said the company projects a combined revenue of close to $5 billion once the deal finalizes. 

In the question and answer session, Naughton and Cerner President Zane Burke said that the company has plans to offer support, and not just replace, the Sorian product line for the next few years. He did say he saw significant opportunities for cross-sell between those on the differing Cerner and Siemens product lines. 

"I think, at the end of the day, is that Cerner bookings or Soarian bookings, it will be -- we're not going to spend a whole lot of time worrying about who gets credit internally because obviously our comp plans will handle that. But I think, there is a lot of ability for us to sell back into that base once we get that base over to Cerner," Naughton said on the call. 

For next year, the company is going to focus on combining revenue cycle management products, Naughton clarified. The integration of other products will come down the line. In terms of cultural integration, Naughton said that they have found people at Siemens are excited to work for Cerner.