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Healthcare IT giant Cerner to create 50 R&D jobs in Dublin

16 Jul 2018

Medical IT player Cerner is focused on improving data intelligence with European patients.

Cerner, a global supplier of healthcare technology services, is to create 50 new roles in Dublin focused on R&D and the management of data for its clients in Europe.

Cerner’s intelligent platforms and services connect people, information and care at 27,000 medical facilities to manage the health of 110m people around the world.

“I am delighted to see Cerner expand its Dublin operation with the creation of 50 high-quality R&D jobs,” Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation Heather Humphreys, TD, said.

“This is an exciting announcement which enhances Ireland’s capability in the healthcare IT sector. I wish the company every success in the exciting times ahead.”

Proactive health

The expertise and innovation that the company will build in Ireland will initially focus on developing advanced predictive algorithms to run on Cerner’s population health intelligence platform, HealtheIntentSM.

The platform enables healthcare providers to proactively manage and improve the wellbeing of communities, enabling a shift from reactive care to proactive health. It aims to keep patients out of hospitals and encourage citizens to take ownership over the management of their health.

IDA Ireland executive director Mary Buckley said the investment will put Ireland in pole position in the development of healthcare analytics and convergence.

“This investment by Cerner is ambitious in scope and addresses pressing future challenges in healthcare.

“It will enrich Ireland’s capability in the key technology areas of big data management and processing. This investment also provides an excellent reference point for IDA Ireland in convergence technologies.”

The 50 new R&D positions will join the Cerner Dublin-based intellectual property development team.

The roles to be recruited include software engineers, software architects, designers and data visualisation developers, with different levels of knowledge and experience.

Successful candidates will gain a variety of skills and receive training on relevant technology tools, including different programming languages, big data and internet of things (IoT) technologies, and the agile software development methodology.

“Cerner have had a permanent presence in Ireland since 2007, supporting our global clients in the transformation of health and care services and the improvement of their populations’ wellbeing,” Matthew Pickett, senior director and general manager for Cerner Ireland, explained.

“When seeking a European location in which to further build upon Cerner’s rapidly growing capabilities in population health management, the expansion of our existing Dublin team was a natural step.

“Projects resulting from this new investment, supported by IDA Ireland, will enable the delivery of smarter, better care for citizens and healthier populations across the globe.”

Cerner in Ireland

In Ireland, Cerner is working in partnership with the HSE to implement its Millennium electronic health record (EHR) platform at 19 maternity sites across the country as part of the Maternal and Newborn Clinical Management System project.

This will help the HSE to provide every mother and child with world-class standards of health and care through a single platform with accurate, accessible and secure data.

The company’s laboratory solutions are contracted through the MedLIS programme to connect all 43 HSE-funded laboratories nationwide and link them to the clinical community with a single national electronic laboratory record. This will ensure greater access to patients’ laboratory history and data, a reduction in test duplication, and improved efficiency and outcomes for Irish citizens.

“Population health is about taking responsibility for managing the overall health and wellbeing of a defined population and being accountable for the health outcomes of that population,” explained Aiden Malone, senior director for population health in Europe.

“It’s about how we can move from treating conditions to preventing them from happening in the first place. The expansion of our R&D team in Dublin will allow us to develop new intelligence on our HealtheIntentSM platform and continue to enable the shift to value-based care for populations through delivering outcomes one person at a time.

“We are looking forward to partnering with companies, academic institutions and the thriving innovation scene in the Irish ecosystem to bring together research and development in areas of medical technology, pharmaceutical, big data and analytics, advanced technology, and the focus area of IoT,” Malone concluded.

“These elements are key components of delivering population health management and will have a direct impact on improving outcomes of millions of lives.”

John Kennedy
By John Kennedy

John Kennedy is a journalist who served as editor of Silicon Republic for 17 years. His interests include all things technological, music, movies, reading, history, gaming and losing the occasional game of poker.

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