Software maker Oracle is buying electronic medical records company Cerner in an all-cash deal valued at about $28.3 billion.

Oracle will pay $95 per Cerner share and the deal is expected to close next year.

Hospitals and physicians offices use Cerner software to record and share health and medical data. The companies said Monday that Cerner systems running on the Oracle Gen2 Cloud will be available 24 hours a day, every day, with the goal of having zero unplanned downtime.

Cerner, based in Kansas City, Missouri, will become a unit of Oracle.

Shares of Oracle Corp., which is based in Austin, Texas, fell more than 2.8% in morning trading.

Cerner is the lead contractor on the Department of Veterans Affairs’ electronic health records modernization project. The initial launch of that project in Washington state revealed widespread patient safety issues, technical problems, training shortfalls and other budgetary and organizational challenges.

Copyright © 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.