EHR Integration Guide

How to Export Cerner/Oracle Health Data
for Analytics in 24 Hours

Cerner Millennium and Oracle Health contain your clinical, financial, and operational data. This guide shows you how to get that data into Vizier — from the simplest Report Writer export to CCL scripting — matched to your technical access level.

The Four-Step Framework

1

Start with the question

What do you want to know? 'What is my average LOS by DRG?' 'Which patients with CHF have been admitted more than twice this year?' The question tells you which data you need and which export method to use.

2

Choose your export method

For most clinical and administrative staff, Report Writer or PowerChart exports are sufficient. For population-level analysis, HealtheDataLab is ideal. For complex custom extracts, CCL or Discern Analytics provide the most flexibility.

3

Export to CSV or Excel

Every Cerner export method supports CSV or Excel output. Save the file locally and ensure it includes the data elements your question requires.

4

Upload to Vizier and ask

Upload the file to Vizier. Vizier maps the data automatically. Ask your question in plain English. No data dictionary knowledge required.

Cerner Export Methods

Report Writer (Cerner Millennium)

Clinical and administrative staffEasy

Cerner Report Writer is the standard reporting tool built into Cerner Millennium. It supports a wide library of standard report templates across clinical, financial, and operational domains. Most users with basic report access can run and export reports without IT involvement.

Steps

  1. Log into Cerner Millennium and open the Report Writer from the menu
  2. Browse or search the standard report library for the relevant template
  3. Set your parameters (date range, facility, provider, visit type)
  4. Run the report
  5. Export to Excel or CSV format using the Export button
  6. Upload the file to Vizier

Best For

Encounter summaries, billing reports, scheduling reports, census data

PowerChart Reports

Clinical staff, care managementEasy

PowerChart is Cerner's clinical workflow application. Many standard reports are accessible directly from within PowerChart, including patient lists, clinical documentation summaries, and order and medication reports. Outputs can be exported to Excel.

Steps

  1. Open PowerChart and navigate to the relevant patient list or clinical view
  2. Use the built-in report or list generation tools
  3. Apply filters (date, diagnosis, care team, etc.)
  4. Right-click or use the toolbar to export the data to Excel or CSV
  5. Upload to Vizier

Best For

Active patient lists, clinical workflow reporting, medication and order analysis

HealtheDataLab

Analysts, data teamsModerate

HealtheDataLab (formerly Cerner Healthe Intent analytics environment) provides a structured data exploration environment for organizations with population health or analytics licensing. It supports cohort building and data export at scale.

Steps

  1. Access HealtheDataLab from the Oracle Health / Cerner portal (requires licensing)
  2. Use the cohort builder to define your patient population
  3. Select the data elements you need
  4. Run the analysis and export results to CSV
  5. Upload to Vizier

Best For

Population health analytics, chronic disease cohort analysis, care gap reporting

CCL (Cerner Command Language) Exports

IT staff, database developersAdvanced

CCL is Cerner's proprietary scripting and query language, similar to SQL but designed specifically for the Cerner Millennium data model. CCL queries can extract virtually any data stored in the Millennium database and export it to flat files. Requires programming knowledge and appropriate database credentials.

Steps

  1. Work with your Cerner-trained IT staff or Cerner implementation consultant
  2. Write or obtain a CCL script for your data need
  3. Run the CCL query in the Cerner environment
  4. Export the output as a delimited text file or Excel
  5. Upload to Vizier

Best For

Complex custom data extraction, large-scale data pulls, multi-domain queries

Discern Analytics

Analysts, IT staffModerate

Discern Analytics (also known as Cerner Discern Explorer) is a report design and execution environment within the Cerner ecosystem. It provides report templates and a visual report builder for organizations that need custom reports without writing CCL from scratch.

Steps

  1. Open Discern Analytics from the Cerner portal
  2. Browse or build a report template
  3. Set parameters and run the report
  4. Export results to Excel or delimited text
  5. Upload to Vizier

Best For

Custom formatted reports, quality measure reports, financial exports

Data Available from Cerner/Oracle Health

Patient demographics

DOB, sex, race/ethnicity, language, insurance, PCP assignment

Encounter data

Admit/discharge dates, visit type, facility, attending provider, LOS

Diagnoses (ICD-10)

Admitting diagnosis, discharge diagnoses, problem list, chronic conditions

Procedures (CPT)

Billed procedures, surgical procedures, diagnostic procedures

Vital signs

BP, BMI, weight, height, temperature, O2 sat, respiratory rate, pain

Lab results

HbA1c, BMP/CMP, CBC, cultures, pathology results

Medications

Active medications, MAR data, pharmacy dispense records, e-prescribing

Scheduling

Appointments, no-shows, cancellations, bed management data

Billing and claims

Charges, payments, adjustments, payer mix, A/R aging, DRG data

Common Cerner-to-Vizier Workflows

30-Day Readmission Tracking

Report Writer

Run the Discharge Summary report for the target period → filter by diagnosis or DRG → upload to Vizier → query for readmissions within 30 days.

Denial Analysis

Report Writer / Discern Analytics

Run Billing/Claims export including claim status and denial codes → upload to Vizier → ask 'What are my top denial reasons by payer in the last 90 days?'

MIPS Quality Reporting

HealtheDataLab or CCL

Extract quality measure patient lists with numerator/denominator status → upload to Vizier → calculate measure performance and identify patients not meeting the measure.

Chronic Disease Population Analysis

HealtheDataLab / PowerChart

Build a cohort for your target condition (e.g., DM2, HTN, CHF) → include relevant clinical values → export → upload to Vizier → identify care gaps.

Ready to connect your Cerner data?

Run a Report Writer export today. Upload it. Ask your first question.

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