Neal Patterson

Neal Patterson – Life, Career, and Legacy

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Neal L. Patterson (1949–2017) was an American businessman and visionary in health information technology. As co-founder and longtime CEO of Cerner Corporation, he helped transform how medical data is managed. Learn about his life, leadership, and impact.

Introduction

Neal Patterson was a trailblazing figure in the intersection of healthcare and technology. Through his leadership of Cerner Corporation, he played a central role in the digitization of patient records and in shaping the infrastructure of modern health IT systems. His life story—rural roots, bold entrepreneurship, and contentious style—offers both inspiration and caution for leaders seeking to drive change in complex industries.

Early Life and Background

Neal L. Patterson was born on December 10, 1949, in Anthony, Kansas. Manchester, Oklahoma, on the border with Kansas.

After high school, Patterson attended Oklahoma State University, earning a bachelor’s degree in 1971 and a master’s degree in 1972. Arthur Andersen, where he met future Cerner co-founders Cliff Illig and Paul Gorup.

Patterson also served in the Army National Guard during the Vietnam era; although he did not see extended active duty beyond training, the experience added to his discipline and leadership formation.

Founding Cerner and Business Growth

In 1979, Patterson, Illig, and Gorup co-founded Cerner Corporation, initially focusing on laboratory information systems and then expanding into comprehensive health information management systems.

Under Patterson’s leadership, Cerner grew from a small IT start-up into one of the major global players in electronic health record (EHR) and healthcare information systems.

A pivotal moment in Cerner’s growth came with U.S. federal policies mandating increased adoption of digital health records (for example, the HITECH Act). Such regulation created strong demand for EHR solutions, benefiting Cerner’s business trajectory.

By some accounts, Cerner’s systems were being deployed in thousands of facilities worldwide, including hospitals, clinics, pharmacies, and extended care settings.

Leadership Style, Controversies & Notable Incidents

Patterson was known for being a strong, sometimes abrasive, leader—willing to push hard for performance and uncompromising standards. Among the more notorious stories is an internal email he sent reprimanding managers for not adhering to 8 a.m. start times and leaving before 5 p.m. That email became a case study in leadership communication and corporate culture, especially when it became public, coinciding with a sharp drop in Cerner’s stock value.

Patterson was also known to have intellectual affinity with Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged; at times he was listed among CEO figures who publicly engaged with Rand’s philosophy.

Despite controversies, his peers and many in the health IT world saw him as visionary — someone who recognized early the importance of data, interoperability, and leveraging IT to reduce waste, variance, error, and inefficiency in healthcare.

Other Ventures & Interests

Beyond Cerner, Patterson also ventured into sports. In 2006, he joined a group that purchased Sporting Kansas City (then known as Kansas City Wizards), a Major League Soccer team, pledging to keep it in Kansas City.

Additionally, his wife, Jeanne Lillig-Patterson, was deeply involved in philanthropic work. She was employee #7 at Cerner and co-founded the First Hand Foundation, which supports children who face healthcare challenges that their insurance cannot fully cover. stage IV metastatic breast cancer for years, and Patterson had publicly discussed how her scattered medical records across many systems spurred his interest in interoperability in health data.

Recognition & Achievements

• In 2010, Forbes named Patterson 4th on its list of “America’s Best-Performing Bosses”, evaluating his ability to generate shareholder value relative to compensation.

• He was repeatedly cited in Modern Healthcare among the 100 most powerful people in healthcare.

• Patterson was also profiled by academia and business schools. The AACSB (Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business) featured him as an “Influential Leader,” noting his strategic thinking in building Cerner into one of the world’s largest independent health information technology firms.

• He invested in his alma mater, contributing to Oklahoma State University’s Center for Health Systems Innovation (CHSI), and helped provide de-identified clinical data sets for analytical research.

Death & Legacy

Neal Patterson was diagnosed with soft tissue cancer (a type of sarcoma) in January 2016. July 9, 2017, at age 67, from complications arising from cancer recurrence.

His death was widely mourned in the health IT and medical community. Fierce Healthcare called him a “legend” and “visionary” whose entrepreneurial pursuit of aligning healthcare with IT would continue to influence the industry.

Patterson’s legacy is evident in how Cerner continues to be a major player in the electronic health record space, and in how many health systems now operate with digital infrastructure for patient data, analytics, interoperability, and care coordination. His early advocacy for integrating data, reducing friction across systems, and using information to improve clinical decision-making left a lasting imprint.

Lessons & Reflections

1. Vision + Timing matters
   Patterson’s success hinged on recognizing that healthcare would need digital transformation—and being ready when regulatory and market forces aligned.

2. Drive innovation but manage culture carefully
   His direct style produced results, but also friction. Leadership in technology industries requires both ambition and sensitivity.

3. Personal experience can inform mission
   The challenges faced by his wife’s care and fragmented records helped shape Patterson’s commitment to health data interoperability.

4. Invest beyond your company
   By supporting educational institutions and providing data for research, Patterson helped seed future innovation beyond Cerner itself.

5. Legacy is built on systems, not just products
   Patterson’s real impact was not just particular software modules, but the ecosystems, standards, and infrastructure that sustained health IT growth.