Cerner appoints new CEO

The company whose electronic health record technology is being adopted by both the Defense and Veterans Affairs departments has appointed a new CEO.

Cerner’s board of directors chose former Google executive David Feinberg to succeed the retiring Brent Shafer on Oct. 1, the health IT firm said Thursday. Feinberg will also join the board and take on the title of president, the role currently held by Donald Trigg that he will retire from on Oct. 1.

Shafer also currently serves as chairman of Cerner’s board and will be succeeded by William Zollars, also on Oct. 1.

Feinberg joins Kansas City, Missouri-headquartered Cerner after a stint as vice president of Google’s health business and is a 25-year veteran.

While at Google and its parent company, Feinberg supported organizations that worked to implement artificial intelligence and other automation technologies for health care efforts.

Feinberg’s career prior to Google includes service as CEO of Geisinger Health.

Regarding the Veterans Affairs EHR rollout, that effort is on pause for at least six months as of late July while the department conducts a strategic review with a new deployment schedule intended for release by the end of this calendar year.

The DOD effort is nearly one-third complete as of mid-June.