As you browse through the sections of the 2011 Health Brief, you’ll find examples of how Cerner is changing our approach to health and care management within our own associate (employee) population, and within our hometown community, Kansas City.

To provide some perspective, every year, our leadership team used to meet for what we called our “one bad meeting a year.” During this meeting, we discussed how health care costs were rising, and how we needed to raise associate health care premiums to match the pace.

Since enacting our own health plan in 2005, we’ve stopped having those bad meetings. We’re now on our sixth year of managing the health of the Cerner community and are finding more and more that others across the country are very interested in our journey, our programs and our evolving culture of health.

Cerner is in a unique position where our day-to-day innovations meet our day-to-day lifestyles. You’ll often hear us use the term “living lab” to explain how we innovate and learn from our experiences individually. Central to the living lab is the belief that you manage the health of a population at the individual level, not by segments or charts and graphs. This is a significant challenge because each of us is unique, with different needs, lifestyles and medical histories.

As we attempt to navigate today’s definition of a health system, we quickly figure out there isn’t much of a system and it was never designed for the individual. This leads us to believe it’s highly unlikely that a disruption to the current system can occur from within. The disruption must occur systemically from the ground up driven by demand from individual consumers.

That leads us to this Health Brief. As we review our current state, the journey for the next 12 months and the journey for this decade, we felt we could do a better job sharing the vision and progress behind our initiatives. To be more transparent on where we’ve been and where we’re headed, we’ve written it all down, gathering the personal stories of associates on the journey, and starting the dialog on future state.

In the pages to follow, you’ll hopefully pick up on some themes we plan to carry forward. To highlight just a few:

Healthcare should be two words: Health & Care

Although the two concepts are intertwined, they are not the same and each plays an important part in a person’s overall wellness. The majority of the current delivery system is designed around Care, in a reactive environment. The focus on Health is primarily up to the individual to navigate on their own. We believe investments in health are the best long-range impact to bending the total cost challenge, and achieving the optimal health status for a population.

A “health plan” should actually focus on health.

The phrase “health plan” has been hijacked by the insurance industry, yet there is no health and there is no plan. It is reactive care insurance. The future system will be much more personal and contextual. As the provider landscape becomes increasingly digital, the entire record will be available to aide clinical decision support. This will create the foundation for a true “Plan for Health” that is personalized to you and constantly improves itself based on changes in your health status.

The consumer must engage versus react.

This is probably the space that has the greatest opportunity for innovation and the greatest diversity of solutions. As you’ll see in some of the stories throughout this brief, engagement has a significant impact. You’ll also notice that a one-size-fits-all approach won’t work. Our shared learning is getting smarter about matching individual needs and preferences with individualized programs. This is probably the most exciting part of our journey.

We’re taking our living lab to a bigger platform, across the entire greater Kansas City region. This creates an environment to engage a community of more than 2 million people. Doing very simple napkin math, if we can successfully apply our approach to date to this region, it has the potential to dramatically change the health status of the population, improve the quality of care, and deliver more than $4 billion in savings back into the Kansas City region. It goes without saying this would have a significant impact on the economic development and competitiveness of Kansas City from a national perspective.

As you read through the brief, you’ll find many examples of how we’ve embraced a culture of health, not only as a company, but also as individual associates. We’re inspired by the stories shared by associates, all of whom decided to get engaged in their own health. It’s motivating for us to hear and see how their efforts are improving their quality of life, and helping prove that together we can make a difference in how people think about the health care system.

Nationally, for the second year in a row, we’ve been named one of the best employers in the nation for healthy lifestyles by the National Business Group on Health, receiving the organization’s platinum award for Best Employers for Healthy Lifestyles. Locally, we’ve been recognized as the healthiest employer in Kansas City (3,500 employees and greater) by the Kansas City Business Journal. This recognition is a result of a shared pursuit by our associates and their family members to create a healthier community. We’d like to take a moment and applaud them for their leadership among the broader community, shown through their participation in Cerner’s health initiatives.

We’re on our way to making a culture of health a reality. Our journey is far from complete, but we are excited about the lessons we’ll learn and the possibilities that lie ahead. We hope that you gain the same level of enthusiasm and inspiration from the stories that follow. There is nothing more motivating than seeing how what we do on a day-to-day basis can positively impact each of us.

Sincerely,