Google Cloud Faces Headwinds in Trying to Win Over EHR Companies

Google Cloud has hit a significant roadblock as it tries to execute its plans to help health care organizations turn their data into breakthroughs via better care and more streamlined operations. Epic Systems, one of the largest electronic health record companies in the nation, has been calling customers to tell them it will not pursue further integration with Google Cloud, CNBC recently reported.

Epic instead will focus its integration efforts on Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure. Epic reportedly made the decision to drop work with Google because it wasn’t seeing enough interest from health system customers to justify the investment. This news comes on the heels of reports in December that Cerner, another top EHR system provider, also plans to migrate its core applications to AWS. Cerner also will standardize its artificial intelligence and machine learning on AWS to develop new predictive technology, Healthcare IT News reports.

What might this mean for Epic and Cerner users? One health system customer told CNBC that Epic’s decision could impact the provider’s data-sharing and aggregation efforts in the future. With Epic and Cerner being “picky” with their data-sharing standards, the source said, withdrawing support for Google could make it risky for health systems to use Google Cloud.