Not everyone embraces Cerner's vision of healthcare IT

Most companies in the health care information technology industry buy into Cerner's population health proselytizing, but there are questions about its prime competitor, Wisconsin-based Epic Systems Corp. Privately owned Epic is opaque about whether it agrees with Cerner's full interoperability — sharing health data among different computer systems — and wellness visions. "We will pass on the opportunity to comment about Cerner and population health," said Brian Springer, a spokesman for Epic, which has some of the nation's largest hospital systems as clients. Epic and Cerner are the industry's two largest health IT providers. They dominate the important hospital market but approach the business a bit differently.