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Cerner

cern · NASDAQ Healthcare
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Industry Medical - Healthcare Information Services
Employees 10,000+
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FY2003 Annual Report · Cerner
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ANNUAL REPORT 2003

706552 DP_CVR  4/19/04  2:11 PM  Page 1

UNITED STATES

KANSAS CITY, MO
Cerner Corporation
World Headquarters
2800 Rockcreek Parkway
North Kansas City, MO  64117
(816) 221 1024

BEVERLY HILLS, CA
Cerner Corporation
9100 Wilshire Boulevard
Suite 655 East 
Beverly Hills, CA 90212
(310) 247 7700

DENVER, CO
Cerner Multum
3200 Cherry Creek South Drive
Suite 300
Denver, CO 80209
(303) 733 4447

OVERLAND PARK, KS
BeyondNow Technologies
5750 W. 95th St., Suite 310
Overland Park, KS  66207
(913) 385 0212

WORLDWIDE

AUSTRALIA
Cerner Corporation PTY Limited
Level 10, 52 Alfred Street
Milsons Point
NSW 2061
Australia
+61 2 9900 4800

BELGIUM
Cerner Belgium
Drere Richelle 161
Batiment N
B-1410 Waterloo
Belgium
+32 2357 2000

CANADA
Cerner Canada Limited 
Cerner Vision Centre
Phase 1, Tower 2, Level 3
800 Commissioners Road East
London, Ontario N6A4G5
Canada
(519) 685 8499

LAKE MARY, FL
Cerner DHT
615 Crescent Executive Court
Suite 500
Lake Mary, FL 32746
(407) 333 5300

BEL AIR, MD
Cerner Project IMPACT
23 Ellendale Street
Bel Air, MD 21014
(410) 838 1275

WALTHAM, MA
Cerner DHT
Two University Office Park
Suite 600
51 Sawyer Road
Waltham, MA 02453
(781) 642 6200

DETROIT, MI
Cerner Corporation
28333 Telegraph Road, Suite 500
Southfield, MI 48034
(248) 357 1818

GERMANY
Cerner Deutschland GmbH

and

Image Devices GmbH
Cunoweg 1
65510 Idstein
+49 (0) 6126 957575

LATIN AMERICA / CARIBBEAN
Cerner Latin America 
Av. Santa Fe 1731
6 floor of. 22
Buenos Aires
Argentina
+54 11 5236 0544

MALAYSIA
Cerner Malaysia Sdn Bhd
Level 36, Menara Citibank
165 Jalan Ampang
50450 Kuala Lumpur
Malaysia
+60 3 2169 6218

ST. LOUIS, MO
Cerner Citation
424 Woods Mill Road
Suite 200
Chesterfield, MO 63017
(314) 579 7900

HOUSTON, TX
Cerner Radiology 
Information Systems
5 Greenway Plaza
Suite 1900
Houston, TX 77046
(832) 325 1500

VIENNA, VA
Cerner Corporation
1953 Gallows Road
Suite 507
Vienna, VA  22182
(703) 245 8100

SINGAPORE
Cerner Singapore Limited
391A Orchard Road
#12-01 Ngee Ann City Tower A
Singapore 238873
+65 6734 3566

SAUDI ARABIA
Cerner Arabia Limited
6/F Suite 609 Al-Akaria Bldg. 3
Olaya Road
Riyadh
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
+966 1 460 0510

UNITED KINGDOM
Cerner Limited
6th Floor, North Wing
3 Sheldon Square
Paddington Central
London WZ 6PW
+44 (0) 20 7432 8100

www.cerner.com

Cerner 2003 Annual Report

1358/2004

706552 DP_CVR  4/19/04  2:11 PM  Page 2

Community Health Model

1. Automate the Care Process

3. Structure the Knowledge

Cerner offers a longitudinal, person-centric electronic medical record, giving
clinicians fingertip access to the right information at the right time and place.

Cerner is dedicated to building systems that bring the best science to every
medical  decision  by  structuring,  storing  and  studying  the  content 
surrounding each care episode.

2. Connect the Person

Cerner  is  dedicated  to  building  a  personal  health  system.  Medical 
information and care regimens accessible from home empower consumers
to  effectively  manage  their  conditions  and  adhere  to  treatment  plans, 
creating a new medium between physicians and individuals.

4. Close the Loop

Today,  the  gap  between  medical  discovery  and  its  incoporation  into  daily
practice  can  be  as  long  as  10  years.  Cerner  is  dedicated  to  building 
systems  that  implement  evidence-based  medicine,  dramatically  reducing 
the average time from the discovery of an improved method to the change in
the standard of care.

906552 DP_Narrative_R3  4/19/04  2:13 PM  Page 1

ANNUAL REPORT 2003

Cerner Corporation is pleased to issue this enhanced version of our Form 10K as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. 
Our simplified approach to our Annual Report yields savings for investment in other areas. For additional information on Cerner, please visit www.cerner.com.

906552 DP_Narrative_R3  4/19/04  2:14 PM  Page 2

know

Pervasive availability of a comprehensive electronic medical record provides University
of Maryland Medical System clinicians with immediate access to complete information,
enabling them to productively make decisions and complete tasks.

906552 DP_Narrative_R3  4/19/04  2:14 PM  Page 3

“Cerner Millennium provides immediate access to patient information wherever we need it.
Through its use, we no longer have to document before and after rounds. We can do it all in 
real time at the point of care.”
— David R. Gens, M.D., Associate Professor of Surgery, University of Maryland Medical System

know

that you are providing the highest quality of care.

906552 DP_Narrative_R3  4/19/04  2:14 PM  Page 4

know

NCH Healthcare System nurses no longer spend hours tracking down or trying to
recall specifics about their patients and their treatments. Instead, leading Cerner ®
solutions allow nurses to place orders, view results and document care online—
freeing them to spend more time at the bedside.

906552 DP_Narrative_R3  4/19/04  2:14 PM  Page 5

“I can look into a patient chart from wherever I am in the hospital and see if there are issues going
on or things I need to check on. We also find that it's really helped employee satisfaction.”
— Carrie Skifton, Vice President, Chief Nursing Officer, NCH Healthcare System

know

that you are creating efficiencies across your organization.

906552 DP_Narrative_R3  4/19/04  2:14 PM  Page 6

know

Healthcare information technology has enabled Truman Medical Centers to realize
numerous safeguards and efficiencies across its organization. This is of critical
importance to care teams supporting admissions—more than 80 percent of the
hospital’s total—derived from the emergency department. 

906552 DP_Narrative_R3  4/19/04  2:14 PM  Page 7

“We have the patient, the doctor, the information at the right place at the right time, 
on time, consistently.”
— John W. Bluford III, Chief Executive Officer and President, Truman Medical Centers

know

that you are optimizing clinical and financial results.

906552 DP_Narrative_R3  4/19/04  2:14 PM  Page 8

know

Spectrum physicians use Cerner solutions to access patient data across the entire
continuum  of  care.  This  has  allowed  the  organization  to  offer  comprehensive, 
personalized  care  by  providing  appropriate  access  to  information  across  the
enterprise – anywhere, anytime.

906552 DP_Narrative_R3  4/19/04  2:14 PM  Page 9

“Improving access and enhancing clinical quality throughout the system were top goals. And we’ve
succeeded. Patients are receiving better care from clinicians who have information available in 
electronic form.”
— Patrick O’Hare, Senior Vice President, Chief Information Officer, Spectrum Health

know

that Cerner Millennium ® delivers real benefits, right now.

706552 DP_CVR  4/19/04  2:11 PM  Page 2

Community Health Model

1. Automate the Care Process

3. Structure the Knowledge

Cerner offers a longitudinal, person-centric electronic medical record, giving
clinicians fingertip access to the right information at the right time and place.

Cerner is dedicated to building systems that bring the best science to every
medical  decision  by  structuring,  storing  and  studying  the  content 
surrounding each care episode.

2. Connect the Person

Cerner  is  dedicated  to  building  a  personal  health  system.  Medical 
information and care regimens accessible from home empower consumers
to  effectively  manage  their  conditions  and  adhere  to  treatment  plans, 
creating a new medium between physicians and individuals.

4. Close the Loop

Today,  the  gap  between  medical  discovery  and  its  incoporation  into  daily
practice  can  be  as  long  as  10  years.  Cerner  is  dedicated  to  building 
systems  that  implement  evidence-based  medicine,  dramatically  reducing 
the average time from the discovery of an improved method to the change in
the standard of care.

Table of Contents AR 2003 

Board of Directors ………………………………………………………………………………………12
Leadership ……………………………………………………………………………………………………13
Letter to Our Shareholders ………………………………………………………………………14

10K

Business and Industry Overview ………………………………………………………………………………………26

Properties ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………36

Selected Financial Data …………………………………………………………………………………………………39

Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations ……………………………40

Individual Auditor’s Report………………………………………………………………………………………………55

Financial Statements and Discussion

Balance Sheet……………………………………………………………………………………………………………56

Income Statement ………………………………………………………………………………………………………57

Consolidated Statements of Changes in Equity …………………………………………………………………………58

Statement of Cash Flows ………………………………………………………………………………………………59

Summary of Significant Accounting Policies ……………………………………………………………………………60

Business Acquisitions …………………………………………………………………………………………………66

Receivables ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………67

Property and Equipment …………………………………………………………………………………………………68

Investments ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………68

Indebtedness ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………69

Interest Income and Expense ……………………………………………………………………………………………70

Stock Options, Warrants and Equity ……………………………………………………………………………………70

Associate Stock Purchase Plan …………………………………………………………………………………………71

Foundations Retirement Plan ……………………………………………………………………………………………71

Income Taxes ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………72

Related Party Transactions………………………………………………………………………………………………73

Commitments ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………73

Segment Reporting ………………………………………………………………………………………………………74

Quarterly Results ………………………………………………………………………………………………………75

Corporate Information ………………………………………………………………………………76

11

Board of Directors
Neal L. Patterson • Chairman of the Board & Chief Executive Officer

Cerner Corporation

Clifford W. Illig • Vice Chairman

Cerner Corporation

Gerald E. Bisbee, Jr., Ph.D. • Chairman, President & Chief Executive Officer

ReGen Biologics, Inc., Franklin Lakes, NJ

The Honorable John C. Danforth • Partner, Bryan Cave LLP, St. Louis, MO

U.S. Senator - Missouri, 1976-1995

Jeff C. Goldsmith, Ph.D. • President, Health Futures, Inc., Charlottesville, VA

Michael E. Herman • General Partner, Herman Family Trading Company, Kansas City, MO

President, Kansas City Royals Baseball Club, 1992-2000

William B. Neaves, Ph.D. • President & Chief Executive Officer

The Stowers Institute for Medical Research, Kansas City, MO

The Honorable Nancy-Ann DeParle • Senior Advisor to JPMorgan Partners, LLC,

Adjunct Professor of Health Care Systems at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania;

Administrator, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, 1997-2000

12

Leadership

Cerner Executive Cabinet

Douglas M. Krebs • Senior Vice President, Cerner Corporation 

President, Cerner Global
Marc G. Naughton • Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Jeffrey A. Townsend • Senior Vice President 
William M. Dwyer • Senior Vice President
Julia M. Wilson • Vice President and Chief People Officer

Intellectual Property Organization

Paul N. Gorup • Senior Vice President, Knowledge and Discovery
Douglas S. McNair, M.D. & Ph.D. • Senior Vice President, Research
John P. Fingado • Vice President and General Manager, Clinical Centers
Rick G. Holbrook • Vice President, Application Architecture
Gay M. Johannes • Vice President and Chief Quality Officer 
G. Scott MacKenzie • Vice President and General Manager, Providing Care
David P. McCallie, Jr., M.D. • Vice President, Medical Informatics
Rebecca S. MacKinnon • Vice President, Community Solutions
Richard D. Neece • Vice President, Classic Solutions
Michael R. Nill • Vice President, Technical Architecture
Shellee K. Spring • Vice President and General Manager, Surrounding Care 

Cerner Global Organization
Asia Pacific
James R. Flynt • General Manager, Asia Pacific

Canada 
Robert J. Shave • President, Cerner Canada

Europe
Bruno N. Slosse • General Manager, Europe

Germany/Austria
Lothar Leber • Managing Director, Image Devices GmbH
Christian H. Ummerle • Managing Director, Cerner Deutschland GmbH

United Kingdom
David W. Sides • General Manager, Cerner Limited

Latin/South America
Guillermo E. Moreno • Vice President, Latin America

Neal L. Patterson • Chairman of the Board & Chief Executive Officer
Clifford W. Illig • Vice Chairman 
Earl H. "Trace" Devanny, III • President
Paul M. Black • Executive Vice President
Jack A. Newman, Jr. • Executive Vice President

Cerner-in-Cerner (CinC) Organizations
Cerner Great Lakes
Stanley M. Sword • Senior Vice President, Cerner Corporation 

President, Cerner Great Lakes

Sam P. Pettijohn • Vice President, Sales
Paul J. Sinclair • Senior Vice President, Consulting

Cerner Mid America
Mike Valentine • Vice President, Cerner Corporation 

President, Cerner Mid America

Matthew J. Wilson • Vice President, Sales
Jacob P. Sorg • Vice President, Consulting
Max A. Reinig • Vice President, Consulting

Cerner North Atlantic
Richard J. Flanigan, Jr. • Senior Vice President, Cerner Corporation 

President, Cerner North Atlantic

Santo A. Cugliotta, Jr. • Vice President, Sales
Ron Jones • Vice President, Consulting
Maureen D. Peszko • Vice President, Strategic Relationships

Cerner Southeast
John T. Peterzalek • Vice President, Cerner Corporation 

President, Cerner Southeast

Michael L. Fiorito • Vice President, Sales
Bruce P. Eklund • Vice President, Consulting

Cerner West
Zane M. Burke • Vice President, Cerner Corporation 

President, Cerner West

Mitchell Clark • Vice President, Sales
Michael C. Neal • Vice President, Consulting

Corporate Executives

Douglas A. Abel • Vice President, Accelerated Solutions Center
Robert J. Campbell • Vice President, Learning  
Vicki W. Carlew • Vice President, Marketing and Communications
Jude G. Dieterman • Vice President, Cerner Technology
John F. Dragovits • Vice President, Strategic Outsourcing
John B. Landis • Vice President, Client Operations
Richard H. Miller, Jr. • Vice President and Chief Information Officer
Jeffrey S. Rose, M.D. • Vice President and Chief Medical Officer
Randy D. Sims • Vice President, Chief Legal Officer and Secretary
Donald D. Trigg • Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer 
Charlotte A. Weaver, R.N. & Ph.D. • Vice President and Chief Nursing Officer

13

To Our Shareholders, Clients and Associates: 
2003 was a very eventful year for Cerner with mixed results for shareholders. Revenues grew 8 percent to a record $840 million; net earnings decreased
17 percent to $43 million; and earnings per share decreased 16 percent to $1.18 per share. In the first quarter of 2003, we missed our planned new
contract  signings  for  the  first  time  in  more  than  three  years,  causing  a  ripple  effect  of  lower-than-expected  revenue  and  earnings  in 
subsequent quarters. After adjusting for the first-quarter shortfall, however, our performance for the rest of 2003 was strong, meeting or exceeding our
expectations in almost all categories. We had a record year in operating cash flow with more than $134 million, nearly double our 2002 operating cash
flow  of  $68  million  (adjusted  for  non-recurring  items).  Our  2003  operating  cash  flow  represents  35  percent,  85  percent  and  24  percent  average 
annual growth over three-, five- and 10-year periods, respectively. Our key operational measurements were at record levels in 2003, helping drive this
impressive  operating  cash  flow.  All  told,  2003  was  a  dynamic  year  in  the  continuation  of  Cerner’s  growth  and  in  the  extension  of  our  leadership 
position in the healthcare information technology (HCIT) marketplace.

In prior years, we have often used this letter to communicate our vision for the impact of information technology (IT) on healthcare and the major trends
in our HCIT industry. This year we want to briefly depart from that practice in order to provide a short course on how our business model works as we
comment  on  our  2003  performance.  We  believe  this  will  be  helpful  both  now  and  in  the  future  as  we  continue  to  strive  to  create  a  high  level  of 
transparency for our shareholders.

THE CERNER BUSINESS MODEL

In  most  respects,  our  business  is  relatively  straightforward—we  create  intellectual  property  (IP)  in  the  form  of  software  and  other  forms  of  digital 
content, and we bundle it with other technologies and services to create complete clinical and business solutions for healthcare providers. In short, we
build it, sell it, deliver it and support it for healthcare provider organizations around the world. (It in this context refers to the solutions Cerner creates
for healthcare organizations. More on solutions later.) In our opinion, we have a healthy business model and, under the right circumstances, it will
improve  over  the  next  several  years.  Below  is  a  graphical  representation  of  Cerner’s  business  model  showing  a  top-to-bottom  flow  of  how  Cerner 
converts new business opportunities and our backlog
into revenue and earnings: 

At  the  top  of  our  model  is  our  Sales  Pipeline of 
potential  future  business  opportunities  we  have 
identified in the marketplace. Our pipeline has doubled
over  the  past  several  years,  reflecting  both  a  strong
market for our solutions and our leadership position in
the HCIT marketplace.

During each quarter, we sign new contracts to deliver
our solutions to clients. These signings are reported as
New  Contract  Bookings and  become  part  of  our 
contract  backlog.  A  typical  new  contract  will  impact
our  revenues  in  the  current  quarter  and  for  the  next
four  to  six  quarters  based  on  how  the  licenses, 
technology  resale,  subscription  and  professional 
services  are  delivered.  That  is  why  the  first-quarter
2003 shortfall in new contract bookings impacted our
top line each quarter of 2003. 

Missing  our  planned 
line  also  causes  a 
top 
secondary impact to our bottom line. Because Cerner
is a growth company (we have doubled the size of the
company nearly three times in the past 10 years), we
have  to  grow  many  of  our  expenses  based  on  our
expected top-line  growth  in  order  to  be  prepared  to
meet  our  clients’  needs  in  the  future.  When  we
increase expenses in anticipation of this growth and it
does  not  materialize,  it  has  a  greater  impact  on  our 
bottom  line.  This  was  evident  in  2003  when  our 
earnings  per  share  declined.  It  is  important  to  note, 
however, that while we have had a few years in our 
17-year history as a public company in which earnings
were lower than we expected, we have been profitable
every single year.

14

Almost  all  of  our  client  contracts  will  also  contain  provisions  for  Support  Contracts in  which  Cerner  agrees  to  provide  a  broad  set  of  services  that 
support our clients’ use of our solutions in demanding clinical settings. This support includes addressing technical issues related to our software and
providing access to future releases of licensed software.

Continuing with our top-down business model flow, the value of the new bookings contracts and support contracts rolls into our Contract Backlog and
Support Backlog. Even though almost all of our systems are in service for decades, our reported Support Backlog only includes the expected value for
one year of support revenue for all of our client support contracts. We have historically reported the value of these backlogs because we believe they
are  important  to  our  shareholders’  ability  to  interpret  the  overall  health  of  our  business.  Our  total  backlog  (signed  contracts  with  unrecognized 
revenues and one year of support) exceeds $1.25 billion and grew at healthy compounded annual rates of 26 percent, 22 percent and 29 percent over
the past three, five and 10 years.

At the core of our business model are our various revenue streams and the contribution each stream makes toward the profitability of Cerner. The 
contribution is stated as the recognized revenue less the direct cost to produce that revenue. Here are the basic revenue streams in our business model: 

A Professional Services. We provide a wide range of professional services to assist our clients in the implementation of our information systems in
their organizations. These services are in the form of project management, technical and application expertise, and education and training of our
clients’ staffs to assist in the construction and implementation of our systems. We recognize revenues associated with these engagement activities
as  they  are  provided  to  our  clients.  In  2003,  these  revenues  represented  approximately  28  percent  of  our  total  revenue  with  a  profit 
contribution of 15 percent. We have a number of initiatives in place in order to improve the fundamental profitability of this element of our business.
Our target profit contribution is 30 percent by 2007.

A Intellectual Property (IP): Licensed Software. We develop and license IP (our architectures, application software, data and algorithms) to our
clients. Our standard license is perpetual—providing our clients permanent rights to use the software they purchase. This approach contrasts with
the approach of most of our competitors who are always trying to sell "upgrades" to their clients. We believe our approach is part of the reason for
our leadership position and the reason we have so many long-term client relationships—some longer than 20 years. We recognize revenues from
licensed software as we achieve predefined client engagement milestones, such as delivery and installation of our software. In 2003, this type of
revenue represented 22 percent of our total revenues with a profit contribution of 89 percent.

A Intellectual  Property  (IP):  Subscriptions. Another  method  by  which  we  provide  IP  is  based  on  a  subscription  model  that  has  a  periodic 
usage  charge.  This  is  the  primary  way  we  package  and  provide  medical  knowledge,  which  changes  based  on  research  and  can  be  updated 
independently from the software in which it is embedded. This revenue is recognized monthly, and in 2003 it represented 2 percent of our total 
revenues  with  a  profit  contribution  of  10  percent.  We  have  grown  this  portion  of  our  business  over  the  past  few  years  and  expect  the  profit 
contribution percentage to increase in the upcoming years.

A Technology Resale. We bundle licensed software with other companies’ IP (e.g., that of HP, IBM, Oracle, Microsoft) in the form of sublicenses in
order to create complete technology solutions for our clients. We also resell bundled computer equipment (hardware) from technology companies
to create a completely functional system. We recognize revenues from technology resale as the equipment is delivered to our clients. In 2003, these
revenues represented approximately 15 percent of our total revenue with a profit contribution of 17 percent.

A Managed Services. In addition to offering access to talent and economies of scale, there are some services that, in certain circumstances, our
clients believe we can perform better and, in the long run, more economically than they can for themselves. Over the past several years, we have
added and have begun to offer a number of such services we call Managed Services. We currently offer a set of technical services that include
Remote Hosting, Application Management Services and Disaster Recovery. Remote Hosting is the largest of these offerings, and it involves Cerner
buying the necessary equipment, installing it in one of our data centers, and operating the entire system on the client’s behalf. The revenues for
this service and our charge for the equipment are recognized monthly as we provide the services. Most of our clients choose to own their own 
software license, so that portion of the revenue is unchanged. Cerner owns the equipment, however, instead of selling it upfront to the client; this
impacts the resale portion of the revenue. While Managed Services represents a relatively small part of our revenue at $34 million and 4 percent
of the total in 2003, it is one of the fastest growing components of our revenue, and we have plans to increase the types of services we offer our
clients. The profitability of this part of our business is currently at 18 percent, but should increase as we grow this business.

A Support & Maintenance. The final portion of our revenue comes from the ongoing support and maintenance services we provide after our systems
are in use by our client organizations. Almost 100 percent of our clients contract for these services. Clients on support contracts get 24X7 access
to our Immediate Response Center, which serves as our emergency room, as well as access to a very knowledgeable base of associates in our
Immediate Answer Center for less urgent issues. In addition, our clients’ support payments give them ongoing access to the latest releases of our
IP. Cerner also provides support for sublicensed software and maintenance for third-party hardware. In 2003, support and maintenance revenues
represented  approximately  25  percent  of  total  revenue  with  an  impressive  profit  contribution  of  53  percent.  And  based  upon  a  great  deal  of 
success in the operational side of our business, this part of our business has grown at more than 20 percent per year for the past five years.

Note that all of the revenue categories discussed above add up to approximately 96 percent of total revenue. The remaining 4 percent is revenue from
reimbursed travel expenses related to Cerner associates traveling to client locations. This revenue has a zero margin as it is simply a pass-through of
our client-related travel expenses that are billed to our clients, but which we are required to report as revenue.

15

The  two  large  indirect  expenses  in  our  business  model  are  the  costs  of  our  Research  and  Development  (R&D),  which  was  equal  to  19  percent  of 
revenue in 2003, and the indirect portion of Selling, General and Administrative (SG&A) activities, which represented 13 percent of revenue in 2003.
Cerner has a long history of investing heavily in R&D and using that investment to systematically expand markets to create organic growth. These 
investments have fueled compounded annual revenue growth rates of 27 percent, 20 percent and 21 percent over the past three-, five- and 10-year
periods. During these time horizons, R&D spending has grown at roughly the same rate as revenue. Going forward, we expect the industrial strength of
our Cerner Millennium ® architecture and the enactment of several initiatives designed to leverage our R&D investments to slow the rate of increase in
R&D spending while continuing our strong record of innovation and organic growth. Similarly, we expect to take advantage of a more scalable business
infrastructure to reduce the rate of increase in SG&A spending to below our revenue growth rate. We expect this leverage to help improve operating
margins without impacting our ability to develop and deliver new solutions to our clients.

In  2003,  our  overall  operating  margin  of  $78  million  was  a  disappointing  9  percent  of  revenue,  which  is  well  below  the  20  percent  targeted 
profitability level at which we believe Cerner should be able to operate. We will discuss our margin expansion plans later in this letter.

The remaining expenses in our business model are taxes and interest expense, which totaled $35 million in 2003, leaving $43 million of net earnings,
or $1.18 of earnings per share. 

2003 ASSESSMENT: HARD-EARNED PROGRESS

The dynamics of 2003 created a stronger company that is better prepared for the remaining part of this decade. Here are some highlights. 

Strong Finish after First Quarter Shortfall

The shortfall in first-quarter new business bookings resulted in lower-than-expected revenue and earnings for the first quarter and full year of 2003.
As a result, Cerner’s revenue grew 8 percent in 2003, which was lower than planned, and our earnings per share declined from $1.40 (before special
items) in 2002 to $1.18 in 2003. The first-quarter shortfall was a significant cause for alarm both inside and outside the company, which raised the 
question of whether some fundamental changes may have impacted Cerner or its market. We conducted a careful review of both external and internal
contributing  factors.  We  certainly  found  things  to  improve  internally,  but  concluded  that  our  first-quarter  bookings  shortfall  did  not  reflect  a 
fundamental change in the demand for our solutions and services or our ability to execute our plans. This assessment is supported by the fact that,
after recording first-quarter bookings of $151 million, we averaged $220 million of bookings in each of the three remaining quarters of 2003. 

Externally,  Wall  Street  is  conditioned  to  act  very  quickly  to  any  quarterly  results  that  vary  from  expectations,  and  after  meeting  or  exceeding  their 
consensus estimates for 13 quarters in a row, our single miss cut the stock price nearly in half to $16.50. There is a segment of the legal system in
this country that promotes the filing of class action law suits against companies in such circumstances, and Cerner was no exception. We strongly
believe the lawsuit filed against Cerner is without merit, and we are vigorously defending it. 

Our strong performance after the first quarter drove a quick recovery in our stock price, which ended the year at $37.85, up 21 percent from the end
of 2002, and more than double the low that occurred shortly after the first quarter.

Delivering Solutions to Our Clients and Getting Paid

Operationally, Cerner had an outstanding year in 2003. Our services
organization delivered 884 Cerner Millennium solutions to our clients
in 2003, a 63 percent increase over 2002. This brings the cumulative 
number of Cerner Millennium solutions implemented to 2,649 at 567
client  facilities—a  level  of  progress  on  a  new  and  contemporary 
architecture that is unrivaled by any of our competitors. These results
include significant progress at implementing computerized physician
order  entry  (CPOE)  at  a  large  number  of  client  sites.  CPOE  is  the 
solution generating the highest level of industry attention.

As  our  Cerner  Millennium solutions  have  matured  and  our  ability 
to  implement  them  efficiently  has  improved,  our  operational 
performance  has  increased  significantly.  Our  strong  operational 
performance  is  reflected  in  our  strong  cash  flow  results  and 
improvements in days sales outstanding. In 2003, we generated $134 million of cash flow from operations, with days sales outstanding decreasing
from 116 days at the end of 2002 to 103 days at the end of 2003. In short, 2003 was an excellent year operationally. This performance is carrying over
into 2004. 

16

Improving the Mix and Visibility of Our Future Revenues

In 2003, we continued to shift our business model to increase contributions from more visible and recurring revenue sources such as Support and
Maintenance, Managed Services and Subscriptions. Revenues from these sources are all growing at strong rates, and they accounted for 31 percent
of total revenue in 2003 compared to 25 percent in 2002. We have also improved revenue visibility by creating growth in our contract backlog, which
contains bookings that have not yet been recognized as revenue. In 2003, our contract backlog grew 28 percent to $938 million compared to total 
revenue growth of 8 percent, indicating that we still generated strong levels of new business in 2003, but that this new business will be recognized as
revenue over a longer period of time.

Improving Our Organization’s Productivity, Execution and Structure 

We used the first-quarter shortfall as an impetus to accelerate a number of internal productivity and process improvement actions. Specifically, we
focused on strategic and tactical initiatives that challenged our organizational structures, our staffing levels, the distribution of work, the efficiency of
effort, the accountability of our executives, the value-for-money in our spending practices, and the decision-making abilities of our management team.
As a result, we enter 2004 a more efficient organization. Evidence of our progress during the year is that our revenue per associate increased 11 
percent from the first quarter of 2003 to the fourth quarter of 2003. 

Our  client-centric  Cerner-in-Cerner,  or  "CinC,"  regional  client  organization  approach,  which  was  implemented  in  January  of  2003,  has  also 
strengthened our company. This highly scalable and "flattened" organizational structure is delivering value because it creates better alignment between
our clients and our executive team, and clearer accountability both internally and externally. Internally, the CinC structure has provided much clearer
ownership of results, as the president of each CinC is responsible for a separate profit and loss statement. Externally, our clients have easier access to
executives who are directly responsible for their projects and their ongoing services, which has proven to be very valuable in creating and maintaining
strong relationships and improving client satisfaction. 

A Major U.K. Effort with Limited Success

We invested a great deal of our energy and a great number of resources in 2003 into our efforts in the unprecedented country-wide HCIT procurement
conducted by the National Health Service (NHS) in England. In total, approximately $10 billion of contracts were awarded in late 2003 and early 2004.
After winning the first of these contracts, the national Electronic Booking Service, with our partner Atos Origin (formerly SchlumbergerSema), Cerner
was not awarded any of the larger Local Service Provider (LSP) regional contracts. Losing the larger regional contracts was a significant disappointment
to our company. However, we believe we maintained our shareholders’ best interest throughout our efforts to win the business. In our view, there was
a disconnect between the risks (business terms and performance standards) in the government’s contracts, the amount the NHS was willing to pay the
companies  for  taking  those  risks,  and  the  very  significant  challenges  involved  in  making  radical  changes  (changing  the  way  doctors  and  nurses 
fundamentally do their work) in any healthcare organization. While we competed very, very hard for this business, there is a sense of relief inside Cerner
that we successfully managed to balance our client and shareholder interests. The winners of the LSP contracts have a very long, tough road ahead. In
our opinion, they all face daunting operational, technological and financial challenges over the next five years. 

We are excited, however, to be delivering the first phase of the Electronic Booking Service for scheduling appointments between the General Practitioner
and the Medical Specialist physicians across England. This will be the first national architecture in the world in which IT is used to coordinate and
improve an entire healthcare system. While the Electronic Booking Service is one of the smaller contracts from a monetary standpoint, it is possibly the
most strategic and politically important part of the initiative. We are eager to see the positive impact our solution will have on personal health choice in
England and its potential to shorten an unnecessary component of delay in the U.K. health system.

Cerner learned some extremely valuable lessons from this experience, not only in our senior leadership teams, but also throughout the company in areas
such as global business development, IP, Consulting, and Managed Services. We believe that other federal and state government entities will emerge
to become a new segment of buyers of HCIT. The lessons we learned in this competition position Cerner to contend more effectively for this new, very
large segment of business. In contemplating healthcare delivery for a nation, we advanced our understanding of our proprietary community model for
health and how to apply it to large populations. These lessons will result in meaningful benefits for our current and future clients here in the United
States and across the globe. 

We found that, when challenged, the Cerner Millennium architecture could deliver increased scalability, performance and uptime for the rigorous proof
of solution exercises demanded by the NHS. As we continue to progress through the milestones of the Electronic Booking Service contract, we are 
proving to ourselves, the NHS, and both current and future clients just how well our Cerner Millennium architecture can scale. Recent performance tests
have been at volumes never achieved before in healthcare. We have demonstrated the ability of the Cerner Millennium architecture to internally process
more than 2.9 million transactions in one hour against a database with 2.7 billion rows of data. We look forward to putting our industrial-strength 
abilities to good use in future domestic and global settings. 

17

AN EXCITING TIME FOR HCIT: HEALTHCARE SYSTEMS AROUND THE WORLD LOOKING FOR THE "SYSTEM" 

Healthcare is unlike any other industry in our economy. In many aspects, it is possibly the most important because it impacts us personally, our loved
ones,  our  friends,  our  business  associates,  and  the  productivity  of  our  companies,  communities  and  countries.  The  majority  of  healthcare  provider
organizations  around  the  world  have  lagged  in  adopting  IT.  In  2003,  however,  we  began  to  see  a  significant  shift  in  the  attitudes  of  the  major 
stakeholders in healthcare organizations toward the role of IT. Healthcare executives, doctors and nurses are increasingly viewing IT as strategic, and
the major funders of healthcare—governments and employers—are more engaged than ever. All of the stakeholders are asking the same paradoxical
question—where is the "system" in our current healthcare system? 

The  same  organizations  that  produce  miracles  that  save  and  transform  lives  every  day  unfortunately  remain  mired  in  processes  that  are  manual, 
inefficient  and  fundamentally  unsafe.  As  the  aging  of  the  baby  boomer  generation  increases  the  demands  on  the  healthcare  system,  a  number  of 
foreseeable results are emerging: 

A Healthcare spending is soaring in the United States. In 2003, we spent $1.7 trillion, representing an alarming 15 percent of the Gross Domestic

Product, up from the 13.3 percent in 2001. 

A Quality gaps in healthcare continue to result in as many as 100,000 unnecessary deaths inside our hospitals alone each year. No one questions that
the unmeasured amount of damage caused by unintentional medical errors outside of our hospitals is probably even greater due to our highly 
fragmented healthcare system.

A According  to  an  August  2003  New  England  Journal  of  Medicine study,  the  United  States  spends  31  cents  of  every  healthcare  dollar  on 

administrative costs, totaling $294.3 billion or $1,059 per capita.

A Despite continued breakthroughs in medicine, high-quality healthcare is far from a universal reality in the United States, with studies indicating that

a rate as high as 45 percent of patients do not receive the scientifically recommended care. 

A The National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) estimates that nearly 41 million sick days and more than $11 billion in lost productivity could

be avoided annually if well-known "best practices" were more widely adopted.

A In a report released in March 2004, the trustees of the Medicare Trust Funds made three blunt statements that highlighted the current situation in

the United States:

• Under current law, Medicare's hospital insurance trust fund, which pays for inpatient hospital care, will be exhausted in 2019 (15 years from

now), seven years earlier than forecasted last year.

• Medicare will grow much faster than the economy as a whole, increasing from 2.6 percent of the gross domestic product last year to 3.7 
percent in 2010, 7.7 percent in 2035 and nearly 14 percent at the end of the 75-year period commonly used for long-range projections.

• Projected Medicare costs would exceed those for Social Security in 2024. By 2078, the level of Medicare expenditures would represent nearly

twice the cost of Social Security.

In this unfolding drama and growing crisis, the role of information systems continues to grow in importance. The healthcare industry is getting a lot of
attention, with many leaders, both in government and in industry, calling for reform. Now more than ever, the call for reform includes a focus on the
use of electronic medical records to ensure patient safety and to eliminate manual, paper-based medical records. The fact that the National Health
Service in England committed to a nationwide procurement represents $10 billion of proof that some forward-looking policymakers believe in IT as a
strategy  to  unravel  many  of  healthcare’s  problems.  As  another  example  in  the  United  States,  the  Medicare  Prescription  Drug  Improvement  and
Modernization Act of 2003 included a $600 million provision for technology integration of e-prescribing. 

CREATING CERNER’S FUTURE: OUR CONTINUING INVESTMENT IN INFORMATION 
ARCHITECTURE AND SOLUTIONS

Cerner is a technology company, a healthcare information technology company to be more precise. At the center of Cerner is the advanced information
architecture we call Cerner Millennium. Based on the Cerner Millennium architecture, we have built a broad portfolio of applications that, when deployed
in our clients’ environments, create more than fifty solutions to their real-world clinical, operational and business issues. As some readers will recall,
we gave status reports in prior years’ annual letters as we rebuilt our entire architecture and applications during the mid-1990s. It was a risky and major
undertaking, but one that today puts Cerner in a strong competitive position as the entire healthcare industry is now making IT a strategic investment.
We  have  historically  invested  an  average  of  more  than  20  percent  of  our  annual  revenues  in  our  technologies.  Not  one  of  our  competitors  has 
successfully developed a contemporary, large-scaled architecture comparable to the Cerner Millennium architecture; no one offers the breadth and
depth of solutions offered by Cerner on a common architecture; and no company in this industry invests as heavily as Cerner on a single architecture.
Over the next five years, our current plan is to invest another $1 billion in our Cerner Millennium architecture and solutions. It is our core strategy that
drives the growth of our company and, even more importantly, creates real value for our clients. 

The environment in which Cerner operates, that of information technology and healthcare, constantly changes, creating moving targets that challenge
us daily. The volume of new medical knowledge created each year defies comprehension. The speed of change in information technology creates a
blur. Yet, with every discovery and every new technology, our clients expect our systems to meet their current needs with the most up-to-date medical
knowledge and the most recent technologies. Cerner Millennium architecture provides the framework that makes this possible.

18

Today, contemporary architectures are really layers, or stacks, of hardware and software components connected across a local or wide area network,
working together to perform tasks or functions for individuals and organizations. Powerful microprocessors and wireless technologies have created
unparalleled mobility in personal computing devices. Connectivity, too, has taken gigantic steps in the past five years, and an expanding number of
devices  with  broadband  access  are  now  available  in  almost  all  working  environments.  The  Internet,  complete  with  its  own  set  of  standards  and 
technology  crossroads,  is  at  the  center  of  these  changes.  In  the  fall  of  2002,  we  shared  with  our  clients  our  road  map  and  J2EE  open-platform 
strategy for adding a new, Web-based human interface to the Cerner Millennium architecture. We received significant marketplace acceptance of our
approach to the technology and the design of this effort as we introduced it in 2003.

Starting in the summer of 2003, our released versions of Cerner Millennium software have contained a powerfully innovative Web experience. The
Cerner Millennium Web experience combines the technology benefits of a browser-agnostic platform with an optimized human interface that aligns 
personalization,  digitized  knowledge  and  clinician  work  practices.  Knowledge  is  proactively  pushed  to  clinicians  before  they  select  orders  or 
medications,  ensuring  they  can  take  advantage  of  the  best  medical  science  without  disrupting  the  ordering  process.  Most  importantly,  the  Cerner
Millennium Web experience is 100 percent compatible with previous releases of our software, making the use of the new human interface completely
optional to every user. 

The Cerner Millennium Web technology has been successfully challenged under the most severe load testing conditions for our Electronic Booking
Service  solution  in  England,  in  which  we  proved  the  ability  to  handle  scheduling  of  appointments  for  more  than  50  million  British  citizens.  Unlike 
competitive offerings, this new experience is an extension of our already proven architecture, offering seamless coexistence with Cerner applications
developed for the Windows ® operating system and compatibility with all browser-based technologies. 

OUR HEALTHCARE INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY SECTOR 

Information technology will certainly play a key role in restructuring our current healthcare system. As a result, we believe this will be a good decade
for the healthcare information technology industry. We also believe Cerner will use this favorable environment to create a new type of company in this
industry—one  that  combines  vision,  size,  financial  strength,  intellectual  capital  and  intellectual  property  into  a  company  capable  of  transforming 
health organizations. 

A broad positive for our industry is that the financial condition of hospitals, driven by the increase in demand for services coming from the leading edge
of the baby boom generation, is relatively stable, with the primary exception being hospitals that depend on a higher mix of Medicaid (state programs)
revenues.  Recent  Standard  &  Poor’s  data  indicates  that  higher  reimbursement,  coupled  with  sustained  demand  for  services,  should  improve  the 
credit quality of hospitals. As healthcare providers stabilize financially, they are able to make important investments in the future of their organizations.
According to a survey of chief financial officers conducted by the Healthcare Financial Management Association, hospital capital spending is expected
to rise 14 percent annually over the next five years, up from 1 percent increases from 1997 to 2001. Technology tops the list of anticipated capital 
projects, with investments expected to focus on major IT systems. This is creating a positive for both Cerner and our competitors—a rising tide that
carries all boats. 

A clear indication of Cerner’s leadership position is our ability to take market share from our competitors. For the past four years, approximately 40 
percent of our new business bookings have come from clients with whom we had no prior relationship. Our ability to increase market share is also 
evident in our revenue growth during the past four years. In 1999, available data indicated that combined revenues for the six largest HCIT providers,
including Cerner, were approximately $3.4 billion. Cerner’s revenues that year were $358 million, or 11 percent of the total. In 2003, four years later,
the estimated total revenues for the same six companies increased 25 percent to $4.3 billion. Cerner’s revenue increased 135 percent during this 
time, while the combined revenue for the other five competitors increased 10 percent. We are clearly taking share across our competitive landscape.
We describe this landscape in the following way: 

Entrepreneurial Organizations
Historically, the HCIT market was dominated by companies like Cerner—started around the kitchen table by one or more entrepreneurs and grown by
their founders. Over time, many of these companies were acquired by others entering the business. The paths of the few remaining entrepreneurial
companies have diverged. Some companies have chosen to stay private and focus exclusively on one chosen industry niche, limiting investment in R&D,
to return money to a small group of private shareholders and executives in the form of cash dividends. Cerner, for its part, continues to believe that very
serious investments in R&D are needed to solve the complex issues in healthcare delivery. Since Cerner’s inception in 1979, we have invested more
than $900 million in R&D, and we expect to spend an additional $1 billion over the next five years. 

Big Cap Players
HCIT has always attracted the "big cap" players—that is, the large multinational companies. It is difficult for these companies to ignore just how big a
market HCIT can become, and this has resulted in several big caps developing an entry strategy, usually by buying one or more existing companies.
These large conglomerates typically tout their overall size and healthcare modality success as a proxy for a safe choice. However, the facts show and
history demonstrates that most conglomerates have elected not to withstand the rigors of this industry, with dozens of large cap companies entering
and leaving over time, including IBM, Oracle, McDonnell Douglas, EDS, GTE and AT&T. Today, GE, Siemens and Phillips are very active in the HCIT 
industry. It is difficult for buyers and shareholders to evaluate the commitment of these companies, because large cap companies operate businesses
across varying industries and disclose limited information about their HCIT groups. 

19

Roll-Ups
Wall Street seems to love the "roll-up"—a company that goes on an acquisition spree and buys a number of other companies, creating quick revenue
growth. These companies end up with pieces of architecture from a variety of disparate sources, resulting in an inefficient and difficult-to-manage
assortment of IT applications. As a consequence, resources are focused on linking disparate systems instead of creating advancements. Acquirers have
attempted  to  obscure  the  true  costs  of  integration,  touting  their  "openness"  or  "middleware"  without  doing  the  hard  work  required  to  unify  their 
back-end  architectures.  Acquirers  always  seem  to  be  in  a  state  of  rewriting  and  are  only  able  to  point  to  a  handful  of  sites  live  on  their  actively 
marketed product. Unfortunately, healthcare organizations have not always had the sophistication in their procurement processes to discern all of the
risks inherent in the roll-up strategy. But over time, more and more understand that there are no shortcuts in our business.

Forest Floor
For the same reasons that the larger companies want into this business, the venture capitalists have always poured money into this industry, looking
for  the  niche  to  try  to  create  "the  next  Cerner."  Over  time,  it  will  be  more  difficult  for  these  startups  to  be  effective  because  of  the  importance 
healthcare providers now place on proven, broad and integrated solutions. 

Competition will remain strong in our sector through this decade. There is just too much opportunity to expect otherwise. However, we believe we will
continue to be very effective against our competitors. As we expected and communicated in advance, when the HCIT market expanded in 2002 and
2003, our competitors gained some sales momentum as they aggressively promoted their versions of technologies they claimed would match Cerner’s
proven,  contemporary  architecture.  The  next  several  years  will  be  more  difficult  for  many  of  our  competitors,  we  believe.  We  have 
consistently  said  their  momentum  would  slow  if  they  did  not  succeed  in  proving  their  software  works  in  live,  demanding  settings,  at  more  than  a 
handful of clients. An example of these challenges became very public for one of our competitors in the fourth quarter of 2003 when it announced that
a component of the system it had been promising to deliver for years did not support the rich functionality required in the highly interactive patient care
environment. That competitor has since laid out a path that includes several temporary fixes before it can try to deliver what was originally sold.

We  believe  that  Cerner  will  increasingly  be  able  to  distinguish  our  vision,  strategies,  technologies,  solutions  and  capabilities  for  the  market  as  we
progress through this decade. 

CERNER’S FOCUS IN 2004

2004 is underway. As a management team, we have a tremendous responsibility to our clients, shareholders and associates to create a better, stronger
Cerner.  We  are  focused  on  improving  Cerner  in  three  main  ways:  extending  and  deepening  our  client  relationships,  advancing  and  hardening  our 
technologies, and creating a financially stronger enterprise. 

Extending and Deepening Our Client Relationships

Our most important assets do not show up on our balance sheet—they are our relationships with our clients. In 2004 we will deepen our relationships
with  the  organizations  that  already  use  our  solutions,  and  create  new  relationships  with  other  healthcare  providers  all  over  the  world.  These 
relationships are complex because of how completely integrated we become inside our client organizations’ core business and clinical processes. Rather
than  view  each  client  as  the  target  of  a  one-time  courtship,  we  aim  to  partner  shoulder  to  shoulder  with  our  clients  in  pursuit  of  long-term 
transformational  goals.  Many  of  our  relationships  are  now  entering  their  second  and  even  third  decades.  It  is  noteworthy  that  in  2003  we  further 
expanded  our  relationship  with  St.  John  Medical  Center  in  Tulsa,  Oklahoma.  It  was  23  years  ago  that  St.  John  Medical  Center  signed  for  the  first 
version of our PathNet ® laboratory information system and became our first client. 

We recognize the challenge and importance of staying accessible and intimate even as our company grows larger, and we are using our Cerner-in-
Cerner or "CinC" structure to improve every touch-point with our clients. The CinC structure is about removing unnecessary process and management
layers from our client interactions, in turn allowing our clients to form fewer and higher-quality relationships with the Cerner associates who serve them.
Our  major  focus  is  on  creating  consistent,  high-quality  levels  of  service  every  time  we  interact;  to  "feel"  like  a  small  business  while  offering  the 
benefit of collective experience no small business can match. We made major progress in 2003 and are excited about the changes we have planned in
the remainder of 2004. 

Expanding and Improving Our Technologies

At the center of the value we create for our clients is the information technology we create—it becomes the platform on which our clients practice 
medicine  and  run  their  organizations.  Our  Cerner  Millennium architecture  is  already  industrial  strength.  In  2003,  we  proved  that  with  respect  to 
scalability, installability, reliability and performance, the Cerner Millennium architecture is without equal. During 2004, we will continue to harden the
Cerner Millennium architecture to make it even more reliable as we increase its performance attributes. 

We  will  also  expand  our  reach  inside  our  client  organizations  by  continuing  our  long  history  of  innovation.  Our  2004  areas  of  focus  include  ICU, 
cardiology, oncology, women’s health, orthopedics, home health, supply chain, cost accounting and evidence-based medicine. 

20

Improving Our Business Model

We enter 2004 with a stronger, more visible business model, a very strong competitive position, and perhaps more fundamental drivers of demand for
HCIT  than  ever  before.  We  are  focused  on  three  key  financial  objectives  in  2004:  delivering  top-line  growth,  expanding  operating  margins  and
generating free cash flow. 

Growing the Top Line
Cerner has a long history of creating organic growth by investing in research and development of our intellectual property. This strategy has led to a 21
percent  compounded  annual  revenue  growth  rate  over  the  past  10  years  and  a  significant  capture  of  market  share.  In  2004,  we  believe  we  can
continue gaining market share by leveraging our proven solutions and exposing the unproven nature of some of the competitive offerings. We are also
focused on cross-selling into our installed base as our clients’ needs grow over time. On average, an existing client has about five solutions installed
from among the more than 50 potential Cerner Millennium solutions that are available.

We will remain focused on leveraging our experience in the global market. We believe there are meaningful opportunities outside of North America,
including continental Europe, the Far East and South America.

Expanding Operating Margins
Cerner  is  more  focused  than  ever  on  expanding  our  operating  margins.  While  the  shortfall  in  the  first  quarter  of  2003  set  us  back  relative  to  our 
long-term  goal  of  20  percent  operating  margins,  it  did  accelerate  our  focus  on  margins  and  our  visibility  into  where  our  margin  expansion 
opportunities lie.

In February of 2004, we mapped out our path from the 2003 level of 9 percent operating margins to our target of 20 percent by 2007. The biggest 
single opportunity to expand margins is in our consulting organization, which represents about 28 percent of our total revenue. 

We believe this organization, which currently has a contribution margin of 15 percent, can operate at a contribution margin of 30 percent by 2007 as
we  continue  to  drive  improvements  in  productivity.  We  also  have  an  opportunity  to  generate  margin  expansion  by  honing  and  hardening  Cerner
Millennium architecture and solutions in order to reap the full benefit of our significant past IP investments. Taking advantage of our common platform
should allow us to continue our record of innovation while growing R&D spending at a rate that is slower than our top-line growth rate. We expect R&D
leverage to add nearly 300 basis points to our operating margins by 2007. 

We continue to focus on opportunities to amplify gains in other major areas inside our business model. We have built a scalable business infrastructure
that will allow us to keep our SG&A spending growth rate lower than our top-line growth rate. We expect SG&A leverage to add nearly 200 basis points
to our operating margins by 2007. 

We  expect  to  achieve  the  remainder  of  our  margin  expansion  by  capturing  new  efficiencies  in  our  support  organization  as  our  Cerner  Millennium
architecture continues to mature, and by driving higher contributions from newer business models, such as Subscriptions and Managed Services. 

21

Generating Free Cash Flow
A  healthy  business  generates  cash  flow.  A  growing 
business consumes cash. In 2003, we demonstrated our
ability  to  deliver  strong  cash  flow  by  delivering  $134 
million  of  operating  cash  flow.  In  2003,  our  free  cash
flow (operating cash flow less capital expenditures and 
capitalized  software)  was  slightly  negative.  However,
excluding  the  $57  million  invested  in  our  campus 
expansion, we would have generated free cash flow of
almost $50 million in 2003. In 2004, we are focused on
delivering strong operating cash flow and free cash flow.
We expect our operating cash flow to remain strong in
2004 as we continue to focus on improving days sales 
outstanding and expanding our operating margins. And
our free cash flow should improve significantly because
most of the capital expenditures related to our campus
expansion are now behind us. 

As you can see from the chart to the right, while Cerner
has  spent  a  large  amount  of  cash  over  the  past  five
years  (mostly  funded  by  our  operations),  the  spending
has  supported  a  significant  amount  of  growth  in 
revenue, earnings, associates, IP capabilities and physical facilities. We believe we are now at a point at which Cerner will be able to get more scale
out of its cash investments, which will be reflected in higher levels of free cash flow.

Over  the  next  couple  of  years,  we  believe  that  Cerner  will  emerge  as  a  distinctive  company  in  our  industry.  We  will  be  unique  based  on  our  size; 
singular  focus;  industrial  strength  Cerner  Millennium architecture;  unparalleled  breadth  and  depth  of  solutions;  embedded,  executable  knowledge; 
professional services and managed services. We believe that healthcare organizations, governments, employers and consumers will increasingly turn
toward information systems architecture to deal with some of the systemic issues in our healthcare system. 

In this letter, we attempted to share with you the key elements and attributes of Cerner and our environment that we believe will shape this future. In
summary, we believe that we have a solid, improving business model; our clients are increasingly recognizing how strategic and valuable Cerner’s 
solutions can be; they are relatively stable financially; and we have a plan to continue growing our company in this environment. We also discussed
both our disappointments and successes in 2003 and our focus for 2004. 

There  are  many  fundamental  facts  about  the  future  of  healthcare  in  our  society  that  will  continue  to  increase  Cerner’s  core  value  proposition—
to eliminate inappropriate errors, variance, waste, delay and friction. We see the rest of this decade as the time healthcare organizations around the
world will invest in IT as a core strategy to reinvent their organizations. We continue to believe that Cerner is the best-positioned company in the world
to lead this transformation. To our shareholders, clients and associates, we consider it a privilege to have your support in this endeavor. 

NEAL L. PATTERSON
Chairman & Chief Executive Officer

CLIFFORD W. ILLIG
Vice Chairman

EARL H. DEVANNY, III.,
President

PAUL M. BLACK
Executive Vice President

MARC G. NAUGHTON
Senior Vice President
& Chief Financial Officer

JEFFREY A. TOWNSEND
Senior Vice President

JULIA M. WILSON 
Vice President
& Chief People Officer

22

ANNUAL REPORT 2003
10-K

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-K

(Mark One)
( X ) ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 or 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 
For the fiscal year ended January 3, 2004

OR

(    ) TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 
[NO FEE REQUIRED]

For the transition period from _____________ to ___________

Commission File Number 0-15386

CERNER CORPORATION 
(Exact name of Registrant as specified in its charter)

Delaware
(State or other jurisdiction
of incorporation or organization)

43-1196944
(I.R.S. Employer
Identification Number)

2800 Rockcreek Parkway
North Kansas City, Missouri 64117
(816) 221-1024
(Address of principal executive offices, including zip code;
Registrant's telephone number, including area code)

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act: NONE

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act:

Common Stock, par value $.01 per share 
Preferred Stock Purchase Rights
(Title of Class)

Indicate by check mark whether the Registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934
during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the Registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such 
filing requirements for the past 90 days.

Yes     X    

No _____

Indicate by check mark if disclosure of delinquent filers pursuant to Item 405 of Regulation S-K is not contained herein, and will not be contained, to
the  best  of  Registrant's  knowledge,  in  definitive  proxy  or  information  statements  incorporated  by  reference  in  Part  III  of  this  Form  10-K  or  any 
amendment to this Form 10-K.    [   ]

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is an accelerated filer (as defined in Exchange Act rule 12b-2).

Yes     X    

No _____

The  aggregate  value  of  the  registrant’s  voting  and  non-voting  common  equity  held  by  non-affiliates  of  the  registrant  as  of  June  28,  2003 
was $643,591,876.

At  February  27,  2004,  there  were  35,689,164  shares  of  Common  Stock  outstanding,  of  which  7,563,341  shares  were  owned  by  affiliates.  The 
aggregate market value of the outstanding Common Stock of the Registrant held by non-affiliates, based on the closing sale price of such stock on
February 27, 2004, was $1,258,911,855. 

Documents incorporated by reference: portions of the Registrant's Proxy Statement for the 2004 Annual Meeting of Shareholders are incorporated by
reference in Part III hereof. 

25

Part I
Item 1. Business 
Overview 

Cerner Corporation ("Cerner" or the "Company") is a Delaware business incorporated in 1980. The Company’s corporate headquarters are located at
2800  Rockcreek  Parkway,  North  Kansas  City,  Missouri  64117.  Its  telephone  number  is  (816)  221-1024.  The  Company’s  Web  site  address  is 
www.cerner.com. The Company makes available free of charge, on or through its Web site, its annual report on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form
10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K and all amendments to those reports as soon as reasonably practicable after such material is electronically filed with
or furnished to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Cerner is taking the paper chart out of healthcare, eliminating error, variance and unnecessary waste in the care process. With more than 1,500 clients
worldwide,  Cerner  is  the  leading  supplier  of  healthcare  information  technology.  Cerner ® solutions  give  end  users  secure  access  to  clinical, 
administrative and financial data in real time. Consumers retrieve appropriate care information and educational resources via the Internet. 

Cerner implements these solutions as stand-alone, combined or enterprise-wide systems. Cerner Solutions can be managed by its clients or via an
application outsourcing/hosting model. Cerner provides hosted solutions from its data center in Lee’s Summit, Missouri.

Cerner solutions  are  designed  and  developed  using  the  Cerner  Millennium ® architecture.  The  Cerner  Millennium architecture  is  a  state-of-the-art 
technology  infrastructure  that  combines  clinical,  financial  and  management  information  solutions.  It  provides  access  to  an  individual’s  electronic 
medical record at the point of care and organizes information for the specific needs of the physician, nurse, laboratory technician, pharmacist or other
care provider, as well as for front and back office professionals. 

Healthcare organizations utilize data gathered and stored within the Cerner Millennium architecture to improve the safety, efficiency and productivity of
the entire enterprise. The Cerner Millennium architecture also delivers medical knowledge and content to the point of care to help clinicians predict 
outcomes of treatment plans and deliver the most effective care. 

The Healthcare Industry

2003 was a landmark year for the healthcare industry, as Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) rules were implemented,
and other legislation came to bear on this dynamic and fragmented market. The healthcare industry is getting a lot of attention, and many leaders, both
governmental and industry, are calling for reform. Key issues include the use of electronic medical records to ensure patient safety and to eliminate
manual, paper-based medical records systems.

Perhaps the most notable event of last year was the Medicare Prescription Drug and Modernization Act, which was signed in November 2003. The Act
will provide prescription drug coverage to 40 million senior Americans, as well as $600 million for technology integration of e-prescribing. Additionally,
the  Medicare  Reform  bill  includes  important  provisions  related  to  quality  oversight,  aligning  pay  with  performance  and  improving  care  for  the 
chronically ill.

In 2003, the financial condition of healthcare providers appeared to stabilize, with the primary exception being hospitals with a higher mix of Medicaid
revenues.  Recent  Standard  &  Poor’s  data  indicates  that  higher  reimbursement,  coupled  with  sustained  demand  for  services,  should  improve  the 
credit quality of hospitals. In addition, new debt issuance was up eight percent in 2002, which is likely indicative of continued access to capital. Hospital
capital spending is expected to rise 14 percent annually over the next five years, according to a survey of chief financial officers conducted by the
Healthcare Financial Management Association. This number reflects significant growth following one percent annual increases from 1997 to 2001.
Technology tops the list of anticipated capital projects, with investments expected in computerized physician order entry systems and digital radiology,
as well as for purchases of major information technology systems.

As in previous years, the growing shortage of personnel continues to be another threat to the healthcare system. According to United American Nurses,
about 67 percent of hospital nurses said that the time available for patient care has decreased, and 80 percent said their hospitals are seriously short
of nurses. These shortages impact all areas of the hospital, but are prevalent in nursing, radiology and pharmacy.

Many hospitals are turning to information technology ("IT") solutions to recruit and retain clinicians, as technology can significantly reduce the amount
of  paperwork  clinicians  perform.  The  American  Hospital  Association  and  PricewaterhouseCoopers  estimate  clinicians  spend  30  to  60  minutes 
completing paperwork for each hour of patient care. This overhead dramatically reduces not only the time a clinician can spend with a given patient,
but also the number of patients a clinician can see in a given day. In an era of serious staff shortages, anything that takes away from caregiver/patient
interaction is a serious impediment to the quality of care and to the healthcare system’s very mission. 

Healthcare Spending Rises; High-Quality Healthcare Not Yet a Universal Reality

According to projections of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, healthcare spending grew 7.8 percent ($1.7 trillion) in 2003, down from a
growth rate of 9.3 percent in 2002. This will be the first slowdown in healthcare spending growth in six years. While the growth is slowing, healthcare
spending is expected to make up more than 15 percent of the United States Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2003, up from 14.9 percent in 2002 and
13.3 percent in 2001. These figures indicate that healthcare spending continues to outpace growth in the rest of the economy. 

26

Unfortunately, spending does not equate with quality, and despite the progress made in medicine, high-quality healthcare is not yet a universal reality
in  the  United  States.  This  is  the  finding  of  a  December  2003  report  by  the  Agency  for  Healthcare  Research  and  Quality.  As  the  first  national 
comprehensive effort to measure healthcare quality in the United States, the study indicates that opportunities for preventive care are frequently missed. 

Other studies that verify these findings include one by RAND Health, an independent and leading research organization, which found that about 45 
percent of the respondents did not receive recommended care. The National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) also reported in September 2003
that 57,000 insured persons die due to a quality gap, deaths that are the result of factors such as poor use of technology. The NCQA also estimates 
that nearly 41 million sick days and more than $11 billion in lost productivity could be avoided annually if well known "best practices" were more 
widely adopted.

To address these and other related issues, several organizations have been developing recommendations on the use of technology in healthcare. In a
report  issued  by  the  Institute  of  Medicine  (IOM)  in  July  2003,  several  core  capabilities  for  an  Electronic  Health  Record  System  were  identified, 
including  the  adoption  of  computer-based  health  records.  The  IOM  cited  the  importance  of  these  electronic  records  to  greater  safety,  quality  and 
efficiency in healthcare delivery. Additionally, Health Level Seven (HL7), one of the world’s leading developers of healthcare standards, is working to
develop a common industry standard for electronic medical records that will guide the efforts of software developers.

Cerner is committed to helping these organizations better understand the role of technology in healthcare. The Company is co-sponsoring another study
by RAND Health that began in March 2003. This unprecedented study will prove the value of healthcare technology. Neal Patterson, chairman and chief
executive officer of Cerner, sits on the RAND Health Board of Advisors, and Nancy-Ann DeParle, former administrator of the federal Healthcare Financing
Administration (HCFA) and Cerner board member, is on the steering committee. The results of this study are scheduled to be released in March 2005.

Opportunity for Growth Exists in Healthcare Information Technology

While the healthcare market is the second fastest-growing market for IT (government is first), it lags in its adoption of technology. For example, it has
historically  allocated  a  smaller  percentage  of  revenue  to  IT,  spending  an  estimated  2.5  percent  of  revenue  compared  to  3.9  percent  for  all  other 
industries. Fortunately, the healthcare market is becoming increasingly receptive to the use and anticipated benefits of technology. Gartner Group, a
leading research company, forecasts the United States healthcare IT market will grow from $35.7 billion in 2002 to $47.9 billion in 2006. Software and
services are expected to represent the largest portion of this increase.

Transforming healthcare delivery requires a proactive approach – one that enables physicians to manage health through better use and integration of
data. By adopting information technology and evidence-based practices, healthcare organizations can drive out medical errors, eliminate waste and
reduce the inconsistency of care that undermines the overall quality of the health system. 

2004  will  be  an  important  one  for  healthcare,  as  government  and  industry  leaders  debate  patient  safety  and  quality  –  all  of  which  lead  to  the 
exploration of the role of IT. Cerner has proactively addressed the changing and increasing needs of the healthcare industry as discussed above by
developing the Cerner Millennium architecture. See "Cerner’s Technology—Cerner Millennium Architecture" for a more in-depth explanation of this
unparalleled architecture. 

The Cerner Vision

Cerner solutions and the Company’s business approach are organized around a central vision of how healthcare can and should operate. This vision is
founded on a community health model which encompasses four steps: 

A Automate the Core Processes of Healthcare

A Connect the Person

A Structure the Knowledge

A Close the Loop

Automate the Core Processes

Cerner is dedicated to the elimination of the paper medical record and to the reduction of costs in the healthcare industry. 

As  long  as  medical  information  is  isolated  in  a  paper  record,  the  inadequacies  of  today’s  healthcare  delivery  system  will  remain.  Nurses  and 
pharmacists will be forced to interpret illegible and incomplete orders. Physicians will not benefit from the real-time, contextual reference information
available in automated solutions. And clinicians throughout a healthcare organization will continue to search for the single copy of the paper-based
record. When it is not readily available, they will be forced to make critical care decisions without adequate or complete information. 

The  elimination  of  the  paper  record  will  lead  to  improved  quality  and  safety  of  healthcare.  It  will  increase  productivity  and  generate  better 
documentation from which clinical outcomes, financial performance and resource utilization can be benchmarked and analyzed. 

With an electronic medical record, clinicians view demographic information, medical history, lab results, vital signs and treatment plans, along with
notes from healthcare team members. Guidelines and pathways relevant to the person’s medical condition help the physician make the best possible
decisions in diagnosing and treating the patient. This comprehensive view of the person’s health ensures safer and higher-quality care. 

27

Online  documentation  and  physician  order  entry  reduce  errors  and  eliminate  duplication  of  services—and  the  costs  associated  with  both.
Documentation required to write claims and seek reimbursement for services is maintained efficiently, thus reducing claim denials and shortening the
time that passes between claims submission and payment. 

Once all the steps of healthcare are captured electronically, the enhanced documentation will create the foundation for data collection that will be the
backbone of structuring the knowledge of healthcare. 

In addition to automating workflow, technology is essential in order to eliminate error, variance, waste, delay and friction – all of which contribute 
to  declines  in  healthcare  quality  and  increases  in  medical  error.  Healthcare  IT  can  eliminate  these  factors,  leading  to  an  overall  cost  reduction 
in healthcare. 

Connect the Person

Cerner is dedicated to helping its clients build a personal health system, a new medium between the person and the physician, which empowers the
individual and delivers higher-quality healthcare.

The  healthcare  system  is  undergoing  fundamental  change  as  the  person  moves  to  the  center  of  healthcare  delivery.  Increasing  access  to  expert 
knowledge over the Internet and a cultural shift toward self-directed care are moving the center of power and control away from the healthcare provider
and toward the healthcare consumer. 

With the personal health record, individuals can store and access their medical information securely from anywhere they have Internet access. When
combined  with  personalized  health  content,  consumers  gain  a  better  sense  of  the  care  they  are  receiving  and  the  options  available  to  them.  They 
communicate better with providers and more proactively manage their healthcare. 

Structure the Knowledge

Cerner  is  dedicated  to  building  information  systems  that  treat  every  clinical  decision  as  a  learning  event.  Cerner  solutions  enable  the  industry  to 
structure, store and study the application and outcomes of medical practice. 

Medicine must have a structure that allows physicians to record treatment and outcomes in such a way that it can be compared and contrasted with
other methods. A common nomenclature that can exactly capture the meaning of input from physicians and clinicians is a necessary first step. 

Cerner solutions store healthcare data and provide a framework for comparability. This enables physicians to make sense of and glean value from the
information that is gathered through automated processes and connected persons. Without a knowledge framework, data collected will provide no real
benefit.  By  building  this  structure,  Cerner  opens  the  door  for  every  encounter  with  a  patient  and  every  piece  of  new  knowledge  to  be  catalogued, 
measured and analyzed. This knowledge framework will deliver better care and an improved understanding of medicine. 

Close the Loop

Cerner is dedicated to building information systems that deliver evidence-based medicine, dramatically reducing the average time from the discovery
of an improved method to the change in medical practice. 

Advances in technology offer great opportunities in healthcare and must be used to deliver better care faster. The information learned must be applied.
Today,  patients  may  wait  as  long  as  10  years  before  new  medical  knowledge  reaches  widespread  use.  With  systems  designed  to  embed 
evidence-based  medicine  inside  the  clinician’s  workflow—using  pathways,  guidelines  and  alerts—physicians  know  that  every  medical  decision  is
based on the best and most recent knowledge available. The results will be better outcomes and reduced variance. 

The Cerner Strategy

Key elements of the Company’s business strategy include: 

Penetrate the integrated healthcare provider market. Large healthcare systems represent a significant component of the healthcare information 
technology market. These organizations focus on improving safety and reducing costs through operating efficiencies. Cerner’s enterprise-wide, person-
centric clinical and management solutions provide the technology to manage healthcare across an organization, significantly reduce costs, improve the
efficiency of delivery and enhance the quality of care. 

Increase market share in individual domains and further penetrate the existing client base. Cerner expects continued growth in clinical domain
systems  for  specific  markets  such  as  nursing,  physician  office,  laboratory,  pharmacy,  radiology,  surgery,  emergency  medicine  and  cardiology,  as 
institutions look to restructure and reengineer these high-cost centers. 

Cerner is also expanding its presence into the home healthcare market. In August 2003, the Company acquired BeyondNow Technologies, a leader in
the  home  care  information  technology  market.  Based  in  Overland  Park,  Kansas,  BeyondNow  has  been  a  leader  in  the  home  care  industry  by 
developing technologies that reduce administrative paperwork, provide clinicians with remote access to charts, accelerate third-party reimbursement
and share information between the home care setting and hospitals. This acquisition establishes Cerner’s presence in a market that is expected to
increase  dramatically  with  the  advancing  age  of  the  baby  boomer  generation.  It  also  reflects  the  Company’s  goal  to  connect  the  person  in 
the  Cerner  community  health  model.  In  December  2003,  the  HomeWorks ®/Road  Notes ® solution  received  a  "Best  in  KLAS"  ranking  in  the  Home 
Health category.

28

Cerner’s  acquisition  of  BeyondNow  Technologies  comes  at  a  key  time  for  the  home  care  segment.  Information  sharing  and  the  use  of  technology 
directly impact the quality of care provided by home care agencies - quality now measured by the Department of Health and Human Services and the
Centers  for  Medicare  &  Medicaid  Services.  The  two  organizations  recently  launched  the  Home  Health  Quality  Initiative,  aimed  at  providing  quality 
standards and measures to consumers researching home healthcare agencies.

Remain  committed  to  a  common  architecture. Because  Cerner  believes  that  the  constituents  in  health  management  need  to  work  together  to 
benefit  defined  populations  in  a  community,  the  Company  has  made  a  commitment  to  a  single,  unified  architecture  as  the  platform  for  its  health 
information and management systems. This platform enables the Cerner Millennium architecture to be scalable on a linear basis, using either Cerner
compatible modules for process-oriented applications or competitive systems interfaced using open system protocols.

In 2003, Cerner extended its commitment to a unified architecture with the introduction of its Cerner Millennium Web experience solution. Please see
"Cerner Millennium Delivers a New Client Experience" in the "Cerner Technology" section. 

Expand solutions and services. Building upon the Cerner Millennium architecture, Cerner intends to continue expanding the range of solutions and 
services offered to providers. These new solutions and services will complement existing solutions, address clients’ emerging IT needs and employ
technological advances. 

Cerner  believes  that  major  opportunities  exist  as  providers  reach  into  new  markets  and  offer  more  alternative  services  to  remain  competitive.  The
Company believes these organizations will find value in having personal health records and trusted medical information accessible to the individual in
the home. Cerner recognizes the potential value of the aggregate database being developed by its broad client base. This database is a powerful means
of  enabling  comparative  or  normative  procedure  evaluations.  The  substantial  project  management,  process  redesign,  technology  integration  and 
training involved in healthcare systems taking advantage of the opportunities provided by clinical and management information technology represent a
significant market for the Company’s consulting services. 

Additionally, in 2003 the Company made specific progress in expanding its Cerner Millennium solutions to create one of the broadest range of solution
offerings in the industry.

Key new solutions that were introduced in 2003 include the Powerchart Oncology ™ and Workforce Management solutions. Other significant progress is
the success in two of Cerner’s relatively new offerings, Patient Accounting and Picture Archiving Communications System (PACS).

Cerner converted 11 PACS clients in 2003 and has another 15 signed clients scheduled for conversion or module roll-out in 2004, bringing its total 
converted client facilities to more than 40 in North America and 120 facilities globally. These clients benefit from the productivity and safety delivered
by an integrated solution.

Continue  pursuit  of  excellence  in  implementations. Since  the  introduction  of  the  Cerner  Millennium architecture  –  a  revolutionary  concept  and 
application offering that ventured into uncharted territories – Cerner has dramatically improved the implementation process. With the benefit of more
than 2,600 converted solutions at the end of 2003 and more than 1,600 consulting associates, Cerner has steadily decreased implementation timelines
while increasing the number of solutions converted within those timelines. 

Contributing to this record number of implementations is the client response to Cerner’s Accelerated Solutions Center servicesSM (ASC) – a prescribed
practices implementation model developed from more than 25 years of success in developing and implementing healthcare IT solutions. Comprised of
a dedicated group of information technology consultants that specialize in the implementation of Cerner Millennium solutions, Center takes much of the
implementation burden of database design and build activities off its clients’ staff. Through use of the ASC services, clients enjoy reduced time, cost
and complexity of implementation, predictable, fixed-fee solutions and reduced burden on resources.

Offer  solutions  on  a  hosted  basis. To  assist  Cerner’s  clients  with  implementation  and  maintenance  of  its  solutions,  Cerner  offers  application 
outsourcing  through  its  Remote  Hosted  Option  (RHO).  Representing  the  fastest  growing  service  within  the  Company,  this  option  delivers  information 
technology services that include software, computer hardware, implementation, technical support, wide-area network services and automatic software upgrades.

Traditionally,  many  healthcare  organizations  were  unable  to  access  the  most  advanced  IT  systems  due  to  the  complexity  and  cost  involved  in  the 
management and support of these systems. Cerner’s RHO addresses many of these challenges, providing a solution for healthcare IT that enables any
size healthcare organization to benefit from Cerner’s industry-leading information management software. 

While this business model started with a focus on community hospitals, it has expanded to meet the needs of clients of all sizes. Cerner now has more
than  100  clients  relying  on  its  data  center  for  delivery  of  a  variety  of  technology  services,  generating  a  highly  visible  and  increasingly  profitable 
revenue stream.

Build a reputation as a partner characterized by trust and integrity. In an era in which corporate financial scandals seem almost a constant in the 
headlines, Cerner pledges to promote trust and integrity in every client relationship it establishes. Cerner’s three original founders – still in leadership
positions today – along with its long history of solid financial performance are testaments to the Company’s commitment. 

29

Continue to expand global presence. Cerner has an immense opportunity to revolutionize the practice and delivery of healthcare throughout the world
through  its  leadership  in  clinical  systems  and  patient  safety.  To  that  end,  Cerner  continues  to  make  significant  investments  in  the  infrastructure 
development to support these efforts. 

In October 2003, the Company reported that Atos Origin (SchlumbergerSema), with Cerner as its key partner, was awarded the Electronic Booking
Service contract, which was the first contract awarded in the very large healthcare information technology procurement conducted by the National
Health Service (NHS) in the United Kingdom. This contract is very strategic because the Electronic Booking Service will link healthcare providers with
more than 50 million citizens in England. 

Cerner also expanded its presence in the United Kingdom when Homerton University Hospital NHS Trust and Newham Healthcare NHS Trust in London
joined forces to contract for the Cerner Millennium electronic patient record (EPR) solution. Cerner was chosen for the multi-million dollar procurement
after a rigorous selection process. Implementation began in August 2003, and the Trusts are scheduled to have a fully operational EPR system within
two  years  that  will  improve  patient  safety,  clinician  workflow  and  operational  efficiency.  In  addition,  the  local  Primary  Care  Trusts  (PCTs)  will  be 
incorporated into the system, resulting in the connection of all parts of the health community.

In  Germany,  Cerner  completed  its  integration  of  Image  Devices  with  Cerner  Deutschland.  The  acquisition,  which  occurred  in  2002,  substantially
increased the Company’s European presence. Founded in 1990, Image Devices has supplied the image archive component for the Cerner ProVision ™
PACS solution since 1999.

The Company also continues to increase its leadership in other key global markets. In August, Cerner was selected by Montreal-based McGill University
Health Centre to automate all aspects of its clinical and anatomic laboratories. 

Additionally,  London  Health  Sciences  Centre  in  London,  Ontario,  continues  to  implement  its  Cerner  Millennium architecture  city-wide  to  support 
their  "one  person/one  health  record"  mission.  In  2003,  the  Company  also  negotiated  a  new  five  year  agreement  with  London  Health  Sciences 
Centre to complete the rollout of the Cerner Millennium electronic health record platform across all facilities and to position them to expand into the 
surrounding region.

In addition to its strong European and North American presence, Cerner believes there are meaningful opportunities in other global locations, including
the Far East and South America.

Cerner Technology—Cerner Millennium Architecture

The cornerstone of Cerner’s technology strategy is the Cerner Millennium architecture, the single architecture around which each of Cerner’s solutions
is developed. This person-centric, single data model is open and highly scalable. Thus, it allows Cerner to meet the clinical, financial, management and
business information requirements of a healthcare delivery system across the continuum of care. The Cerner Millennium architecture, the core of which
was  developed  between  1994  and  1999,  is  Cerner’s  computing  platform.  The  Cerner  Millennium architecture  uses  flexible  n-tiered  client/server 
technology  to  optimize  distributed  computing  performance  and  scalability  across  multiple  client  and  server  platforms.  The  Cerner  Millennium 
architecture and solutions were designed and developed to accommodate healthcare specific requirements for mission-critical computing and secure
access from all settings along the care delivery continuum. The breadth of focus and functionality of the Cerner Millennium architecture and solutions
are well suited for large-scale and enterprise application technologies for healthcare organizations.

The value of the Cerner Millennium architecture to a client organization is the enterprise-wide use of a single system based on a fully unified common
architecture and database. With its single data model and comprehensive electronic medical record, the Cerner Millennium architecture provides secure,
real-time  access  to  all  information  across  multiple  solutions,  domains,  organizations  and  physical  locations,  including  physician,  hospital,  nursing, 
laboratory,  pharmacy  and  consumers,  to  all  authorized  providers  requiring  such  access.  Given  its  unified  and  open  design,  the  Cerner  Millennium
architecture  can  also  provide  a  centralized  repository  of  clinical  and  financial  transactions  to  help  standardize  access  and  messaging  of  disparate 
applications across a health system.

The alternative to a single architectural approach is to use disparate systems based on differing architectures and data structures. These disparate
systems must be interfaced together and rely on these interfaces to transmit, modify and arrange data exchanged between them, which limits the data’s
usefulness  across  multiple  systems  and  inhibits  real-time  access.  In  addition,  many  of  these  systems  lack  functional  scalability  and  cannot 
operate across multiple provider settings or locations within a healthcare organization, constraining organizations’ potential to realize full benefits.

Several overarching capabilities are embedded into the Cerner Millennium architecture. First is the person-centric transactions and secure messaging,
which consider the breadth of requirements not only of a patient, but also of healthy consumers. Second is healthcare community dynamics, which take
into account the flexibility required by the constantly changing relationships between healthcare organizations, physicians and consumers, and the need
to maintain complex security and end-user preferences based on the context and business attributes of the transaction in a community setting. Third
is the ability to proactively deliver patient, provider- and condition-specific knowledge and content in the form of alerts, best practices and pathways—
content in context—at the point of decision, empowering physicians with the most complete, most timely information available when making decisions
about care delivery.

30

Cerner Millennium Delivers a New Client Experience 

In 2003, Cerner introduced its new Cerner Millennium Web experience. This solution combines the technology benefits of a browser-agnostic platform
with an optimized human interface that aligns personalization, digitized knowledge and clinician work practices. Unlike competitive offerings, this new
solution  is  an  extension  of  the  Company’s  already  proven  architecture,  offering  seamless  coexistence  with  Windows  and  all  other  browser-based 
technologies. The ability to leverage the Cerner Millennium architecture has put the Company in the unique position to focus its efforts on complex 
collaboration, as this will represent the next generation of clinician productivity.

The  new  Web  experience  is  designed  with  a  focus  on  individuals’  roles  and  the  venues  in  which  they  practice.  Using  the  new  human  interface, 
individuals can easily personalize their workspaces, creating and saving the unique views that best support their unique responsibilities to ensure the
immediate  visibility  of  relevant  information.  The  intuitive  interface  and  associated  usability  enhancements  help  health  professionals  incorporate 
information  technology  into  their  daily  work  practices  and  enable  them  to  quickly  and  easily  complete  routine  tasks.  Clinicians  also  enjoy  a 
proactive  knowledge  push  that  occurs  before  they  select  an  order  or  medication,  ensuring  they  can  take  advantage  of  the  best  medical  science 
without disruption.

The  Electronic  Booking  Service  for  the  NHS  project  in  England  has  proven  the  capacity  of  the  Cerner  Millennium Web  experience  to  handle  the 
scheduling for more than 50 million citizens in England. Cerner internally processed more than 2.9 million transactions in one hour against a database
with 2.7 billion rows of data, indicating that its Web architecture can deliver consistent performance under extreme workloads.

Solutions 

The Cerner Millennium architecture is the only healthcare information system on the market today capable of storing, retrieving and disseminating 
clinical  and  financial  information  across  an  entire  health  system.  The  Cerner  Millennium architecture  solutions  are  dedicated  to  meeting  the 
automation needs of every segment of the care continuum.

Cerner solutions can be acquired individually or as a fully unified health information system. Cerner also markets more than 200 solutions options 
that  complement  Cerner's  major  information  systems.  In  addition,  Cerner  offers  comprehensive  consulting  services—including  learning  services, 
readiness assessments, planning and change management and process redesign—and also sells third-party computers and related hardware to its
software licensees.

Enterprise Repositories

The unique architecture of the Cerner Millennium architecture sets Cerner apart from the competition. A key part of the Cerner Millennium architecture
is the data repositories—the underlying foundation for Cerner solutions which allow healthcare organizations to manage and make use of the data 
collected along the healthcare continuum.

The Open Clinical Foundation ® repository manages clinical information with an open, standard medical terminology, providing the foundation for the
electronic medical record.

The Open Image Foundation ™ repository provides the clinical and document imaging foundation for the electronic medical record.

Cerner’s solution categories include:

A Enterprise-wide Systems, which automate processes throughout the health system enterprise, including:

J Access Management.

J Care Management.

J Financial and Operational Management Systems, which automate business operations.

A Clinical Systems, which automate critical processes across the healthcare continuum, and Clinical Centers, which provide efficiencies for ancillary

departments such as laboratory and radiology.

A Decision Support and Knowledge, which enhance clinical and business processes with information and actions. 

A Consumer, which supports Internet-based healthcare communities that effectively connect individuals, providers and health systems.

A Packaged Solutions, which address key processes in healthcare.

A Segment Solutions, which address issues unique to specific care settings.

A Technologies for developing solutions or connecting other technologies and systems to the Cerner Millennium architecture.

31

Enterprise-Wide Solutions

Access Management
The CapStone ® Enterprise Access Management System is the industry’s most comprehensive suite of solutions designed to automate, integrate and
streamline patient access information between and among all key points in the delivery system. Key components of this solution create the enterprise
master  person  index  (EMPI)  and  automate  the  identification,  eligibility,  registration  and  scheduling  processes  across  hospitals,  clinics,  physician 
practices and other care delivery organizations. 

Care Management
PowerChart® Electronic Medical Record System is the enterprise clinician's desktop solution for viewing, ordering, documenting and managing care
delivery, including the PowerOrders ® offering for physician ordering. 

Financial and Operational
Cerner  is  leveraging  its  experience  to  bridge  the  gap  between  clinical  settings  and  the  business  office,  revolutionizing  the  revenue  cycle  within
healthcare systems.

The ProFit ® Enterprise Billing and Accounts Receivable System is Cerner's patient accounting and financial management solution. The ProFit system
brings together clinical and financial data to maximize reimbursement, decrease denials and gain dramatic operational efficiencies. 

Cerner ProVision ™ Document Image Management System is the only integrated solution that manages document images across the entire healthcare
organization, including both clinical and non-clinical departments.

The ProFile ® Health Information Management System helps meet the operations management needs of the health information management (medical
records) department with functionality that simultaneously manages paper document images and computerized records within a single application.

The  Clinically  Driven  Workforce  Management ™ solutions  align  the  appropriate  resources  based  on  predicted  and  actual  demand.  With  this 
comprehensive  suite  of  offerings,  organizations  are  empowered  to  optimize  existing  resources  while  increasing  patient  throughput  and  managing
employee satisfaction.

The  ProCure ™ Enterprise  Supply  Chain  Management solutions  focus  on  eliminating  variation  and  clinical  staff  burden.  By  connecting  materials 
management processes with key clinical processes, the supply chain is established as a by-product of care delivery.

Medical Transcription Management Cerner Millennium integration offers unprecedented levels of accuracy and efficiency of transcribed documents by
leveraging clinical data to auto-create report content.

Clinical Systems

Points of Care
The  Critical  Care  INet ® Intensive  Care  Management  System is  designed  to  automate  the  entire  care  process  in  critical  care  settings.  It  supports 
complete  nursing  documentation  with  automated  capture  of  bedside  monitor  and  device  data.  Physician  workflow  is  automated  with  both 
documentation and flow sheet embedded Computerized Physician Order Entry (CPOE). Both nursing and physician workflows are enhanced with closed
loop meds process and remote patient monitoring capabilities. Embedded knowledge augments patient safety with critical care specific nursing and
physician  documentation  templates  and  alerts.  Outcome  analysis  (with  world-renowned  solutions  like  APACHE ®)  is  also  embedded  in  the  critical 
care workflow.

The CareNet ® Acute Care Management System is designed to automate and streamline the work and care delivery processes for the entire acute care
team. This solution provides improved communication and the coordination of care for nursing and the entire multi-disciplinary acute care team. The
CareNet system promotes patient safety through strong clinical decision support, evidence-based nursing and knowledge based best practices and
alerts and reminders, thereby reducing the variance and variability in the care process. The CareNet system enables care sets, plans of care, pathways
and protocols, allowing the care team to collect, refine, organize and evaluate detailed clinical and management data, as well as measure outcomes
and goals. 

The  CVNet ® Cardiology  Information  System automates  the  processes  within  the  cardiology  department,  supporting  the  scheduling,  ordering, 
documentation and data capture required by professionals in the cardiology domain.

The PowerChart Oncology Information System automates the clinical decision-making and complex communication needs of the medical oncology care
team.  This  oncology  solution  provides  the  ability  to  share  crucial  patient  information  across  both  ambulatory  and  acute  care  for  management  of 
complex,  multi-encounter  chemotherapy  protocols,  improving  communication  and  the  real-time  flow  of  patient  information  across  the  continuum 
of care.

The SurgiNet ® Surgery and Anesthesia Information System is designed to address the needs of the perioperative service, including automating the 
functions of professional staff and material resource scheduling, supply chain management, perioperative documentation, patient tracking, anesthesia
documentation, physiological monitoring at the bedside or in the operating room suite. It provides easy access to clinical and historical patient data for
past  surgical  events  to  support  planning  for  anesthesia  care  and  surgical  case  preparation  by  clinicians.  The  SurgiNet system  provides  financial 
and  operational  analysis  and  reporting  tools  to  support  continuous  improvement  in  the  utilization  of  and  quality  of  care  delivered  by  the 
perioperative service. 

32

The  Cerner  Women’s  Health  Information  System automates  the  care  processes  in  women’s  centers,  ob/gyn  offices,  labor  &  delivery  units  and  in 
newborn  care  areas  in  the  hospital.  This  solution  is  designed  to  support  the  clinical  workflow,  information  needs  and  specific  challenges  faced  in
women’s healthcare.

The  FirstNet ® Emergency  Department  Information  System provides  a  comprehensive  solution  to  the  challenges  emergency  departments  face  to 
streamline process flows, comply with HIPAA and Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act regulations, comply with the Centers for Medicare
and  Medicaid  Services  requirements  and  ensure  appropriate  reimbursement.  The  FirstNet system  is  an  emergency  department  clinician  and 
management  tool  for  quick  and  effective  patient  tracking,  ordering,  results  and  medical  record  review,  online  clinical  documentation,  prescription 
writing, patient education and evidenced-based coding. 

The PowerChart Office ® Management System supports the broad range of clinical and business activities that occur within a physician office, clinic or
large physician organization. This system ties the physician office together with other medical entities and automates key care team activities in both
primary and specialty care settings.

Clinical Centers

The PathNet ® Laboratory Information System (LIS) addresses the clinical, financial and managerial needs of a comprehensive laboratory setting with
unified solutions for: general laboratory, microbiology, blood bank transfusion, blood bank donor, anatomic pathology, human leukocyte antigen (HLA)
and outreach services. Innovative laboratory solutions such as patented Synoptic Reporting for AP, Clinical Validation and the PathNet Helix ™ offering
for  Molecular  Diagnostic/Genomics  are  just  several  examples  of  how  PathNet  continues  to  set  the  bar  in  the  LIS  market.  The  PathNet system 
automates laboratory processes while capturing crucial data for operational success, ensuring the production of accurate and timely reports and the
maintenance of accessible laboratory records. 

The RadNet ® Radiology Information System addresses the operational and management requirements of radiology departments or services. It allows a
department to replace its manual, paper-based system of record keeping with an efficient computer-based system. 

Cerner ProVision ™ PACS (picture archival and communications system) is fully unified with Cerner's radiology information system to manage storage,
viewing,  reporting  and  distribution  of  images.  Using  Cerner's  end-to-end,  fully  unified  radiology  information  and  image  management  systems, 
radiologists can improve operational efficiencies and reduce medical error.

The  PharmNet ® Pharmacy  Information  System is  a  powerful  solution  for  transforming  pharmacy  and  medication  administration  processes.  The
PharmNet system facilitates improved patient safety and operational activities across the continuum of care. The PharmNet system puts patient safety
first  and  foremost  in  support  of  clinical  pharmacy  practice.  It  is  a  complete  solution  offering  clinical  decision  support,  formulary  management  and 
operational support, facilitating optimal utilization of pharmacy resources.

Decision Support and Knowledge

The  Discern  Expert ® solution  is  an  event-driven,  rules-based  decision  support  software  application  that  allows  users  to  define  clinical  and 
management rules that are applied to event data captured or generated by other applications. It supports both synchronous (real-time, interactive) 
processing and asynchronous (non-interactive) processing of events.

The Discern Explorer ® solution is a decision support software application unified with other Cerner Millennium clinical and management information
systems  that  allows  users  to  execute  predetermined  or  ad  hoc  queries  and  reports  regarding  process-related  data  that  is  generated  by  the 
other applications.

Executable  Knowledge ® solutions  help  clinicians  assess  and  treat  illnesses  and  improve  outcomes  based  on  the  most  current  medical  knowledge.
Knowledge  is  customized  to  the  individual  and  embedded  within  the  Cerner  Millennium architecture  via  order  sets,  plans  of  care,  alerts  and 
notifications  including  Adverse  Drug  Event  (ADE)  Prevention  alerts  and  clinical  documentation.  Reports  measuring  compliance  against  key  clinical 
standards help organizations benchmark and enhance care quality.

Medisource ™ solutions provide caregivers and consumers alike with access to drug information from Cerner Multum and the ability to perform drug
interaction checking to prevent adverse events. Patient safety is enhanced through dose range checking capabilities that determine the appropriate
medication dose based on the age, weight and physiology of an individual.

APACHE ® clinical decision support and outcomes management systems manage the clinical and financial outcomes of high-risk patients in critical and
acute care.

The  PowerInsight ® solution  is  a  comprehensive  healthcare  intelligence  and  data  warehouse  for  healthcare.  It  enables  clinical  leadership  and 
healthcare executives to collect, measure, analyze and benchmark data, thereby deriving insights to enable positive changes in clinical processes and
operational performance.

The Health Facts ™ repository is Cerner's comparative data warehouse for benchmarking information and services for subscribers to support their own
improvement processes.

The  HealthSentry ™ bio-surveillance  network  collects  critical  biological  information  about  potential  disease  outbreaks  and  analyzes  data  for  specific 
patterns or trends.

33

Consumer

Cerner’s  IQHealth ® systems  enable  healthcare  organizations  to  create  an  Internet-based  healthcare  community  that  connects  individuals  to  their 
healthcare providers. IQHealth systems empower consumers and patients to record, track and store health information to better manage their own
health  and  that  of  their  loved  ones.  With  IQHealth systems,  sponsoring  organizations  can  create  and  brand  a  "health  exchange"  to  improve  their 
presence in the community, better support individuals in their self-care actions and enhance existing centers of excellence. 

IQHealth  systems  include  Web  Portal  Services,  Health  Content,  Survey  and  Assessment  Tools,  Personal  Health  Record,  Physician  and  Consumer
Messaging and Disease-Specific Modules.

Packaged Solutions

Computerized Physician Order Entry (CPOE)
Cerner offers a total CPOE solution ranging from basic automation to complete medication integration. 

CPOE enables standardized electronic physician ordering of tests, medications and other patient services. Orders are checked using decision support
tools to determine if they are in line with standards and appropriate for the person’s individual situation. Physicians are alerted to potential problems
and actions are documented in the patient’s electronic medical record.

Cerner’s CPOE solution includes a physician-centric ordering application (PowerOrders), an important decision-support engine with rules and alerts
(Discern  Expert  and MediSource),  and  clinical  documentation  (Care  Documentation,  eMAR,  the  PowerPOC ™ solution  set  and  more),  all  integrated 
within a robust clinical data repository (PowerChart).

When  combined  with  the  PharmNet and  CareNet systems,  Cerner’s  CPOE  unifies  physicians,  nurses  and  pharmacists  to  close  the  medication 
management loop, connecting each member of the care team to the same updated information, thereby reducing errors.

The  solution  also  provides  extra  tools—evidence-based  medical  content  and  an  enhanced  human  interface—to  support  clinicians  and  improve 
care delivery.

PowerPOC
PowerPOC is a solution set of supporting, multisystem offerings that automate the documentation of medication administration and documentation of
tasks related to specific physician/nursing orders at the point of care (POC). This solution set provides notification to the clinician when inconsistencies
occur that could represent potential medication administration errors.

This graduated solution set facilitates patient safety through barcode verification of the "Five Rights" data review and collection, as well as medical
devices  integration  at  the  patient  bedside.  Solutions  within  this  family  include:  PowerPOC CareAdmin ™;  PowerPOC  CareMobile ™;  and  PowerPOC
CareGuard ™ solutions.

HomeWorks
BeyondNow Technologies provides innovative information technology solutions to the home care industry. The HomeWorks solution is a complete front
and back office home care information management system targeting business needs in a quickly changing, fast paced environment. The HomeWorks
solution manages data from the point of the first referral call to the point of the last service payment. The RoadNotes solution enables users to extend
complete patient information from point-of-care to the back office system. Caregivers have access to complete patient charts, profiles and histories –
for the information needed to make informed decisions.

Segment Solutions

Cerner also offers solutions designed for specific segments in the healthcare industry.

Cerner solutions  for  the  Integrated  Delivery  Network  allow  organizations  to  serve  multiple  facilities,  with  differing  needs,  across  various 
geographic locations.

Community  Hospital  Solutions automate  clinical  and  business  processes  in  the  community  hospital.  Community  Hospital  Solutions  suites  include 
administrative, clinical, patient care, hospital integration and community. 

Cerner solutions for the Children’s Hospital setting specifically address those issues unique to the pediatric hospital setting. Cerner solutions include
content and functionality specific to meeting the unique needs of children's hospitals, including dose range checking, weight-based dose calculation,
growth charts and immunization schedules. 

Cerner solutions for Academic Medical Centers allow medical centers to focus on delivering high-quality care and carry out high-level teaching and
research functions. Cerner's unified architecture also enhances research efforts by allowing access to information via a centralized database. 

The Cerner Academic Education Solution is the only clinical information system adapted to support automated curricula and classroom instruction in
nursing, medical and allied health schools, preparing future healthcare professionals for success in an IT driven environment. 

Cerner  offers  solutions  to  meet  the  needs  of  federal  healthcare  organizations,  including  the  Department  of  Veterans  Affairs  and  the  Department  of
Defense. These organizations have specific requirements for IT solutions. 

34

Technologies

The  MillenniumObjects ® toolkit  is  a  collection  of  reusable  programming  elements  from  the  revolutionary  Cerner  Millennium architecture.  These 
segments of code, or objects, allow third-party developers to create front-end applications that draw upon the data model and proven functionality of
the Cerner Millennium architecture.

The Open Engine Application Gateway ™ System facilitates the exchange of data and assists in the management of interfaces between foreign systems
in a network environment. It serves as a solution kit to help write interface code. 

The  Open  Port  Interface ™ System represents  Cerner's  standardized  technology  for  providing  reliable  foreign  system,  medical  device  and  other 
standard interfaces in a timely manner. Message translation and data mapping are done with point-and-click solutions and a scripting environment.
Communications protocols are configured via table-driven parameters. These sophisticated methodologies result in decreased implementation times
and greater client satisfaction. 

Software Development 

Cerner commits significant resources to developing new health information system solutions. As of January 3, 2004, approximately 1,837 associates
were  engaged  full-time  in  software  solutions  development  activities.  Total  expenditures  for  the  development  and  enhancement  of  the  Company's
software solutions were approximately $179,999,000, $149,985,000 and $113,872,000 during the 2003, 2002 and 2001 fiscal years, respectively.
These figures include both capitalized and non-capitalized portions and exclude amounts amortized for financial reporting purposes. 

The Company expects to continue investment and development efforts for its current and future solution offerings. As new clinical and management
information needs emerge, Cerner intends to enhance its current software solutions lines with new versions released to clients on a periodic basis. In
addition, Cerner plans to: expand its current software solutions lines by developing additional information systems for clinical, financial, operational
and/or  consumer  use;  continue  to  support  simultaneous  use  of  Cerner’s  solutions  across  multiple  facilities;  and,  continue  to  expand  in  the 
global marketplace. 

The Company is committed to maintaining open attributes in its system architecture through operability in a diverse set of technical and application
environments. The Company strives to design its systems to co-exist with disparate applications developed and supported by other suppliers. This effort
is exemplified by Cerner's Open Engine, Open Port and MillenniumObjects solutions lines. 

See "Cerner Technology—Cerner Millennium Architecture" for a discussion of the development of Cerner’s latest generation of software solutions. 

Sales and Marketing 

The markets for Cerner's information system solutions include integrated delivery networks, physician groups and networks and their management
service  organizations,  managed  care  organizations,  hospitals,  medical  centers,  free-standing  reference  laboratories,  home  health  agencies,  blood
banks,  imaging  centers,  pharmacies,  pharmaceutical  manufacturers,  employer  coalitions  and  public  health  organizations.  To  date,  a  substantial 
portion of system sales has been in clinical solutions in hospital-based provider organizations. The Cerner Millennium architecture is highly scalable,
with solutions being used in hospitals ranging from under 50 beds to over 2,000 beds and managed care settings with over 2,000,000 members. All
Cerner Millennium solutions are designed to operate on either computers manufactured by HP Computer Corporation or IBM's RISC System/6000 AIX
(UNIX) platform, thereby allowing Cerner to be price competitive across the full range of size and organizational structure of healthcare providers. The
sale of a health information system usually takes approximately nine to eighteen months, from the time of initial contact to the signing of a contract. 

The  Company's  executive  marketing  management  is  located  in  its  North  Kansas  City,  Missouri,  headquarters,  while  its  client  representatives  are
deployed across the United States and globally. In addition to the United States, the Company, through subsidiaries and joint ventures, has sales staff
and/or offices in Australia, Belgium, Canada, Germany, Singapore, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia and the United Kingdom. Cerner’s consolidated revenues
include foreign sales of $54,191,000, $36,634,000 and $22,794,000 for the 2003, 2002 and 2001 fiscal years, respectively. The Company supports
its sales force with technical personnel who perform demonstrations of Cerner's solutions and assist clients in determining the proper hardware and
software  configurations.  The  Company's  primary  direct  marketing  strategy  is  to  generate  sales  contacts  from  its  existing  client  base  and  through 
presentations at industry seminars and tradeshows. Cerner attends a number of major tradeshows each year and sponsors executive conferences,
which feature industry experts who address the information system needs of large healthcare organizations.

Client Services 

All of Cerner's clients enter into software maintenance agreements with Cerner for support of their Cerner systems. In addition to immediate software
support in the event of problems, these agreements allow clients the use of new releases of the Cerner solutions covered by maintenance agreements.
Each client has 24-hour access to the client support staff located at Cerner's world headquarters in North Kansas City, Missouri and the Company’s
global  support  organization  in  Brussels,  Belgium.  Most  of  Cerner's  clients  also  enter  into  hardware  maintenance  agreements  with  Cerner.  These
arrangements normally provide for a fixed monthly fee for specified services. In the majority of cases, Cerner subcontracts hardware maintenance to
the  hardware  manufacturer.  To  assist  Cerner’s  clients  with  implementation  and  maintenance  of  its  solutions,  Cerner  offers  application  outsourcing
through its Remote Hosted Option. This option delivers information technology services that include software, computer hardware, implementation,
technical support, wide-area network services and automatic software upgrades. 

35

Backlog

At January 3, 2004, Cerner had a contract backlog of approximately $938,221,000 as compared to approximately $732,719,000 December 28, 2002.
Such backlog represents system sales from signed contracts, which had not yet been recognized as revenue. The Company recognizes revenue on a
percent of completion basis, based on certain milestone conditions, for its software solutions. At January 3, 2004, the Company had approximately
$94,340,000 of contracts receivable, which represents revenues recognized under the percentage of completion method but not yet billable under the
terms of the contract. At January 3, 2004, Cerner had a software support and maintenance backlog of approximately $312,887,000 as compared to
approximately $269,153,000 at December 28, 2002. Such backlog represents contracted software support and hardware maintenance services for a
period of twelve months. The Company estimates that approximately 45% percent of the aggregate backlog at January 3, 2004 of $1,251,108,000 will
be recognized as revenue during 2004. 

Other Factors Affecting The Company’s Business

Information  under  the  caption  "Factors  That  May  Affect  Future  Results  of  Operations,  Financial  Condition  of  Business"  included  in  "Management's
Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" in Item 7 is incorporated herein by reference. Such information includes a
discussion of various factors that could, among other things, affect the Company's business in the future, including; (a) variations in the Company's
quarterly operating results; (b) volatility of the Company's stock price; (c) market risk of investments; (d) potential impairment of goodwill; (e) changes
in the healthcare industry; (f) significant competition; (g) the Company's proprietary technology may be subjected to infringement claims or may be
infringed upon; (h) possible regulation of the Company's software by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration or other government regulation; (i) the 
possibility  of  product-related  liabilities;  (j)  possible  failures  or  defects  in  the  performance  of  the  Company's  software;  (k)  risks  associated  with  the
Company’s global operations; and (l) recruitment and retention of key personnel. 

Number of Employees ("Associates")

As of January 3, 2004, the Company employed 5,077 associates.

Item 2. Properties

The  Company’s  world  headquarters  offices  are  located  in  a  Company-owned  office  park  in  North  Kansas  City,  Missouri,  containing  approximately
739,000  square  feet  of  useable  space  (the  "Campus").  As  of  January  3,  2004,  the  Company  was  using  approximately  736,000  square  feet  and 
substantially all of the remainder was leased to tenants. In the first quarter of 2002, the Company began construction of a new facility situated between
the  buildings  located  at  2800  and  2900  Rockcreek  Parkway  on  the  Campus.  This  facility  was  completed  on  August  1,  2003  and  is  approximately
123,000 square feet in size. This new facility, referred to as Cerner’s World Headquarters Building, houses offices, a cafeteria and meeting space for
the Company. In 2002, the Company also began construction of a new office building located on the Campus. This facility was completed in December
of 2003 and houses office and meeting space for the Company.

In the spring of 2001, the Company acquired property formally owned by Harrah’s Operating Company, Inc., located along the north riverbank of the
Missouri River, approximately 2 miles from the Company’s Campus. This property consists of an 80,000 square foot building and a 1,300-car parking
garage. The building has been renovated for use as a corporate training, meeting and event center for the Company and third parties. The Company
has also made use of the parking garage to meet overflow-parking demands on the Company’s Campus.

The Company also leases office space in: San Jose, California; Beverly Hills, California; Denver, Colorado; Lake Mary, Florida; Waltham, Massachusetts;
North  Kansas  City,  Missouri;  Detroit,  Michigan;  Chesterfield,  Missouri;  Overland  Park,  Kansas;  Houston,  Texas;  Falls  Church,  Virginia;  Chesapeake,
Virginia; and, Vienna, Virginia. The Company operates its primary solutions center (or data center) in leased space in Lee’s Summit, Missouri. Globally,
the Company also leases office space in: Sydney, Australia; Brussels, Belgium; London, England; and, Aachen and Idstein, Germany. Cerner Arabia, a
joint venture in which the Company maintains a 40% equity interest, leases space in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Item 3. Legal Proceedings

As disclosed in our Form 10-Q for the quarterly period ending March 29, 2003, the Company received notice in April 2003 that three shareholder class
action lawsuits were filed against it and five of its officers in the United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri. Subsequently, as 
disclosed  in  our  Form  10-Q  for  the  quarterly  period  ending  June  28,  2003,  five  additional  shareholder  class  action  lawsuits  were  filed  against  the
Company. All of these lawsuits were filed after a decline in the Company’s stock price following the Company’s announcement on April 3, 2003 that
the Company would not meet revenue and earnings estimates for the first quarter of 2003.

On August 20, 2003, the Court ordered that all of the lawsuits (as specifically identified in our Form 10-Q for the quarterly periods ending March 29,
2003 and June 28, 2003) be consolidated under Case No. 03-CV-00296-DW and appointed Phil Crabtree as Lead Plaintiff. On December 1, 2003, the
Lead Plaintiff filed a Consolidated Class Action Complaint. In general, the consolidated complaint alleges that, during a class period commencing as of
July 17, 2002 and ending April 2, 2003, the Company and individual named defendants misrepresented or failed to disclose certain factors, which they
allege impacted the Company’s business and anticipated revenue and earnings, all allegedly in violation of Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities
Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 thereunder. The Company believes that all the claims asserted in the Consolidated Amended Complaint are 
without merit and intends to vigorously defend those claims. 

36

On February 9, 2004, the Company and the individual defendants filed a Motion to Dismiss the consolidated Complaint. The deadline for the Lead
Plaintiff to respond to the Motion is March 24, 2004. The Company does not know when the District Court will decide the Motion or what the ruling may
be. However, no discovery in the litigation will commence until the District Court rules on the Motion to Dismiss and, if the Motion is denied, the Company
and the individual defendants have filed their Answers to the Consolidated Amended Complaint. 

Item 4. Submission of Matters to a Vote of Security Holders

No matters were submitted to a vote of the stockholders of the Company during the fourth quarter of the fiscal year ended January 3, 2004.

Item 4A. Executive Officers of the Company

The following table sets forth the names, ages, positions and certain other information regarding the Company's executive officers as of March 3, 2004.
Officers are elected annually and serve at the discretion of the Board of Directors.

Name

Neal L. Patterson

Clifford W. Illig

Earl H. Devanny, III

Paul M. Black

Jack A. Newman, Jr.

Glenn P. Tobin, Ph.D.

Marc G. Naughton

Jeffrey A. Townsend 

Randy D. Sims

Julie Wilson

Richard J. Flanigan, Jr.

Douglas M. Krebs

John Peterzalek

Stanley M. Sword

Zane M. Burke

Mike Valentine

Age

Positions

54

53

52

45

56

42

49

40

43

41

44

46

43

42

37

Chairman of the Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer 

Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors

President

Executive Vice President

Executive Vice President 

Executive Vice President

Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

Senior Vice President

Vice President, Chief Legal Officer and Secretary

Vice President and Chief People Officer

Senior Vice President and President of Cerner North Atlantic

Senior Vice President Cerner Corporation and President of Cerner Global

Senior Vice President and President of Cerner South East

Senior Vice President and President of Cerner Great Lakes

Vice President and President of Cerner West

35 

Vice President and President of Cerner Mid America

Neal L. Patterson has been Chairman of the Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer of the Company for more than five years. Mr. Patterson also
served as President of the Company from March of 1999 until August of 1999.

Clifford W. Illig has been a Director of the Company for more than five years. He also served as Chief Operating Officer of the Company for more than
five years until October 1998 and as President of the Company for more than five years until March of 1999. Mr. Illig was appointed Vice Chairman of
the Board of Directors in March of 1999.

Earl H. Devanny, III joined the Company in August of 1999 as President. Mr. Devanny also served as interim President of Cerner Southeast from January
2003  through  July  2003.  Prior  to  joining  the  Company,  Mr.  Devanny  served  as  president  of  ADAC  Healthcare  Information  Systems,  Inc.  Prior  to 
joining ADAC, Mr. Devanny served as a Vice President of the Company from 1994 to 1997. Prior to that he spent seventeen years with IBM Corporation. 

Paul M. Black joined the Company in March of 1994 as a Regional Vice President. He was promoted in June 1998 to Senior Vice President and Chief
Sales Officer and to Executive Vice President in September of 2000. In January of 2003 Mr. Black was named Executive Vice President of the U.S. Client
Organization. Prior to joining the Company, he spent twelve years with IBM Corporation.

Jack A. Newman, Jr. joined the Company in January of 1996 as Executive Vice President. Prior to joining the Company, he was with KPMG LLP for
twenty-two years. Immediately prior to joining Cerner he was National Partner-in-Charge of KPMG’s Healthcare Strategy Practice. 

Glenn P. Tobin, Ph.D. joined the Company in April of 1998 as General Manager and Senior Vice President. In October 1998, Dr. Tobin was appointed
Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. Dr. Tobin also served as interim President of Cerner Great Lakes from January 2003 through
August 2003. In October of 2003, Dr. Tobin gave up his position as Chief Operating Officer and accepted a position as Chief Executive Officer of Cerner
Limited in which position he served through February of 2004. Prior to joining the Company, Dr. Tobin served as a senior consultant with McKinsey and
Co., Inc. for more than five years.

37

Marc G. Naughton joined the Company in November 1992 as Manager of Taxes. In November 1995 he was named Chief Financial Officer and in February
1996 he was promoted to Vice President. He was promoted to Senior Vice President in March 2002. 

Jeffrey A. Townsend joined the Company in June 1985. Since that time he has held several positions in the Intellectual Property Organization and was
promoted to Vice President in February 1997. He was appointed Chief Engineering Officer in March 1998. He was promoted to Senior Vice President in
March 2001. 

Randy D. Sims joined the Company in March 1997 as Vice President and Chief Legal Officer. Prior to joining the Company, Mr. Sims worked at Farmland
Industries, Inc. for three years where he served most recently as Associate General Counsel. Prior to Farmland, Mr. Sims was in-house legal counsel at
The Marley Company for seven years, holding the position of Assistant General Counsel when he left to join Farmland.

Julie Wilson joined the Company in November 1995. Since that time, she has held several positions in the Functional Group organization. She was 
promoted to Vice President and to the position of Chief People Officer in August of 2003.

Richard J. Flanigan, Jr. joined the Company in November 1994 as a Regional Vice President. In 1997, his responsibilities were extended and he was
named as General Manager. He was promoted to Senior Vice President in April 2000 and to President of Cerner North Atlantic in January 2003. Prior
to joining Cerner, Mr. Flanigan spent more than thirteen years in sales and management positions at IBM Corporation.

Douglas M. Krebs joined the Company in June 1994 as a Regional Vice President. He was promoted to Senior Vice President and Area Manager in April
1999. In February 2000, Mr. Krebs was appointed as President of Cerner Global. Prior to joining Cerner, he spent fifteen years with IBM Corporation.

John  Peterzalek  joined  the  Company  in  July  2003  as  Senior  Vice  President  and  President  of  Cerner  South  East.  Prior  to  joining  the  Company,  Mr.
Peterzalek was with Perot Systems for more than ten years.

Stanley M. Sword joined the Company in August 1998 as Vice President and Chief People Officer. He was promoted to Senior Vice President in March
2002. In August of 2003, he was appointed President of Cerner Great Lakes. Prior to joining Cerner, Mr. Sword spent five years at AT&T (three years
as the Vice President of Organization Development of NCR Corporation and two years as a client partner in the outsourcing practice of AT&T Solutions).
Prior to joining AT&T, Mr. Sword spent ten years with Accenture Consulting in a variety of roles within the systems integration practice.

Zane  M.  Burke  joined  the  Company  in  September  1996  as  U.S.  Corporate  Controller.  Since  that  time  he  has  held  several  positions  in  the  finance 
organization and was promoted to Vice President in 2000 and to President of Cerner West in January 2003. Prior to joining the Company, Mr. Burke
was with KPMG LLP for six years.

Mike Valentine joined the Company in December 1998 as Director of Technology. He was promoted to Vice President in 2000 and to President of Cerner
Mid America in January of 2003. Prior to joining the Company, Mr. Valentine was with Accenture Consulting.

PART II
Item 5. Market for the Registrant’s Common Stock and Related Security Holder Matters
The Company's common stock trades on The NASDAQ Stock Market ® under the symbol CERN. The following table sets forth the high, low and last sales
prices  for  the  fiscal  quarters  of  2003  and  2002  as  reported  by  The  NASDAQ  National  Market  System.  These  quotations  represent  prices  between 
dealers and do not include retail mark-up, mark-down or commissions, and do not necessarily represent actual transactions.

First quarter
Second quarter
Third quarter
Fourth quarter

High

38.45
32.38
37.55
46.12

2003
Low

30.22
16.50
20.08
30.87

Last

32.81
23.25
31.42
38.51

High

52.06
57.00
45.54
38.34

2002
Low

43.14
46.23
35.88
27.65

Last

47.71
47.83
35.99
29.50

At January 31, 2004, there were approximately 1,600 owners of record. To date, the Company has paid no dividends and it does not intend to pay 
dividends in the foreseeable future. Management believes it is in the shareholders' best interest to reinvest funds in the operation of the business.

38

Item 6. Selected Financial Data

(In thousands, except per share data)

Statements of Earnings Data:
Revenues
Operating earnings
Earnings (loss) before income taxes and cumulative effect 

of a change in accounting principle

Cumulative effect of a change in accounting for goodwill, 

net of $486 income tax benefit

Net earnings (loss)
Earnings (loss) per share:

Basic 
Diluted

Weighted average shares outstanding: 

Basic
Diluted

Balance Sheet Data:
Working capital
Total assets
Long-term debt, net
Stockholders' equity

2003

2002
(1)(2)(3)

2001
(4)(5)

2000
(6)(7)
(8)(9)(10)

1999
(11)(12)
(13)

839,587
78,097

780,262
90,820

560,802
61,350

414,551
21,922

357,768
1,768

71,222

80,625

(63,314)

172,123

(1,958)

-
42,791

(786)
48,022

-
(42,366)

-
105,265

-
(1,211)

1.21
1.18

1.36
1.30

(1.21)
(1.21)

3.08
2.96

(.04)
(.04)

35,355
36,356

35,458
37,050

34,907
34,907

34,123
35,603

33,623
33,916

251,500
843,754
124,570
494,680

282,135
779,279
136,636
441,244

189,488
712,302
92,132
394,839

186,181
616,411
102,299
343,717

170,053
660,891
100,000
378,937

$

$

(1) Includes a gain on the sale of shares of WebMD common stock. The impact of this gain is a $3.3 million, net of $1.9 million tax expense, increase
in net earnings and an increase to diluted earnings per share of $.09 for 2002.

(2)  Includes  a  charge  for  impairment  of  investments.  The  impact  of  this  charge  is  a  $6.3  million,  net  of  $3.6  million  tax  benefit,  decrease  in  net 
earnings and a decrease to diluted earnings per share of $.17 for 2002.

(3) Includes the cumulative effect of a change in accounting for goodwill. The impact of this change is a $.8 million, net of $.5 million tax benefit,
decrease in net earnings and a decrease to diluted earnings per share of $.02 for 2002.

(4) Includes a gain on the settlement of the WebMD performance warrants. The impact of this gain is a $4.8 million, net of $2.7 million tax expense,
increase in net earnings and an increase to diluted earnings per share of $.13 for 2001.

(5) Includes a charge on the adjustment of the carrying value of the WebMD shares. The impact of this charge is an $81.4 million, net of $46.1 million
tax benefit, decrease in net earnings and a decrease to diluted earnings per share of ($2.21) for 2001.

(6) Includes an investment gain of $120.4 million, net of $68.3 million tax expense, related to the conversion of shares of CareInsite common stock to
shares of WebMD common stock. The impact of this investment gain on diluted earnings per share was $3.38 for 2000.

(7) Includes an investment loss of $24.5 million, net of $13.9 million tax benefit, related to the sale of shares of WebMD common stock. The impact of
this investment loss on diluted earnings per share was ($.69) for 2000.

(8) Includes a charge of $6.7 million related to the write-down of intangible assets associated with the acquisition of Health Network Ventures, Inc. The
impact of this charge on diluted earnings per share was ($.19) for 2000.

(9) Includes a charge of $3.2 million related to the acquisition of CITATION Computer Systems, Inc. The impact of this charge on diluted earnings per
share was ($.09) for 2000.

(10) Includes a charge of $1.0 million, net of $.7 million tax benefit, related to the acquisition of ADAC Healthcare Information Systems, Inc. The impact
of this charge on diluted earnings per share was ($.03) for 2000.

(11) Includes a charge of $5.8 million, net of $3.6 million tax benefit, related to the cost in excess of revenues of completing fixed fee implementation
contracts. The impact of this charge on diluted earnings per share was ($.17) for 1999.

(12) Includes a charge of $.9 million, net of $.5 million tax benefit, related to the accrual of branch restructuring costs. The impact of this charge on
diluted earnings per share was ($.03) for 1999.

(13) Includes a charge of $1.4 million, net of $.9 million tax benefit, related to the early extinguishment of debt, which was previously reported as an
extraordinary item. The impact of this charge on diluted earnings per share was ($.04) for 1999.

39

Item 7. Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations
Introduction

Cerner Corporation ("Cerner" or the "Company") is headquartered in North Kansas City, Missouri. Cerner derives revenue by selling, implementing and
supporting software solutions and hardware that gives healthcare providers secure access to clinical, administrative and financial data in real time,
allowing them to improve the quality, safety and efficiency in the delivery of healthcare. Cerner implements these solutions as stand-alone, combined
or enterprise-wide systems. Cerner solutions can be managed by its clients or in Cerner’s data center via a managed services model.

Results Overview
Cerner had a strong finish to 2003 after a slow start that was caused by a lower than expected level of new business bookings in the first quarter of
the year. New business bookings reflect the value of contracts for software, hardware, services and managed services (hosting of software in Cerner’s
data center). The new business bookings shortfall in the first quarter was approximately $50 million, and it resulted in lower than expected revenue and
earnings  for  the  first  quarter  and  full  year  because  some  of  these  bookings  would  have  been  reflected  as  first-quarter  revenue  and  much  of  the 
remainder would have been included in subsequent quarters. 

Reflecting on the first-quarter bookings shortfall, management does not believe that it reflected a fundamental change in the demand for the Company’s
solutions and services. This assessment is supported by the fact that, after recording first-quarter bookings of $151,000,000, the Company averaged
$220,000,000  of  bookings  in  each  of  the  three  remaining  quarters  of  2003.  For  the  full-year,  the  Company  continued  to  gain  market  share  in  the 
healthcare  information  technology  industry,  with  approximately  40%  of  its  new  business  contract  bookings  coming  from  clients  that  had  no  prior 
relationship  with  the  Company.  Total  new  business  bookings,  which  includes  contract  bookings,  enhancement  bookings  and  additional  service 
bookings, were $811,200,000 in 2003, an increase of 10% compared to $735,600,000 in 2002. 

Total  revenues  increased  8%  in  2003  to  $839,587,000,  with  the  majority  of  the  increase  driven  by  increased  support,  maintenance  and  services 
revenue.  System  sales  revenues,  which  include  software,  hardware  and  sublicensed  software,  were  basically  flat.  System  sales  revenues  did  not
increase as much as management had expected because of the aforementioned first-quarter bookings shortfall and because of a shift in the mix of
bookings  during  the  year.  The  booking  mix  shift  was  driven  by  stronger  demand  for  managed  services  and  subscription  offerings,  which  are 
recognized as revenue over a longer period of time than other types of bookings. Managed service and subscription bookings accounted for more than
20% of total bookings in 2003 compared to about 15% in 2002. The mix shift in bookings is also reflected in the Company’s contract backlog growth.
In  2003,  the  Company’s  contract  backlog,  which  contains  bookings  that  have  not  yet  been  recognized  as  revenue,  grew  28%  to  $938,221,000 
compared to total revenue growth of 8%, indicating that the Company still created strong levels of new business, but that this new business will be
recognized as revenue over a longer period of time.

Net earnings for the year declined from $48,022,000 to $42,791,000. This decline was driven largely by the lower level of first-quarter bookings and
resulting lower level of revenue despite an increased level of spending in anticipation of supporting higher top line growth. By the end of the year, the
impact of the first quarter was mostly complete, with fourth quarter 2003 operating margins at 12.7 %, which was in line with the level they were in
the  fourth  quarter  of  2002.  Going  forward,  management  believes  the  Company  can  expand  operating  margins  from  current  levels  by  expanding 
margins on services, leveraging investments in research and development, and controlling sales, general and administrative spending.

Operationally, the Company had an outstanding year in 2003. The Company brought nearly 900 Cerner Millennium solutions live in 2003, bringing the
cumulative  number  of  solutions  implemented  to  more  than  2,600  at  more  than  550  client  facilities.  These  results  included  significant  progress  at 
implementing computerized physician order entry (CPOE), which is the application generating the highest level of industry attention. 

The Company’s strong operational performance is also reflected in its cash flow results. In 2003, the Company generated $134,150,000 of cash flow
from operations, with days sales outstanding decreasing from 116 days at the end of 2002 to 103 days at the end of 2003. This strong performance
was  driven  by  continued  improvements  in  delivering  value  to  clients,  which  we  believe  makes  it  easier  to  obtain  better  payment  terms  in  the 
Company’s contracts. 

In  2003,  the  Company  organized  geographically.  The  Company’s  six  geographic  business  segments  are:  Great  Lakes,  Mid-America,  North  Atlantic,
Southeast, West and Global. The Company has not presented comparable information for prior periods as necessary information is not available and
the cost to develop it would be excessive. 

40

Operating Segments

Great
Lakes

Mid-
America

North
Atlantic

South-
east

West

Global

Other

Total

$ 153,949

$ 160,633

$ 149,585

$ 145,312

$ 161,840

$

54,191

$

14,077

$ 839,587

36,910
24,897

35,447
24,815

37,520
26,788

40,784
29,454

28,321
28,223

13,450
35,814

1,858
397,209

194,290
567,200

61,807

60,262

64,308

70,238

56,544

49,264

399,067

761,490

2003

Revenues

Cost of revenues
Operating expenses
Total costs 
and expenses

Operating earnings

$

92,142

$ 100,371

$

85,277

$

75,074

$ 105,296

$

4,927

$ (384,990)

$

78,097

Healthcare Information Technology Market
The  Company  believes  the  market  for  healthcare  information  technology  remains  substantial.  The  healthcare  industry  continues  to  significantly 
outpace the growth of the economy, with the most recent Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services data indicating that healthcare spending in the
United States totaled $1.7 trillion in 2003, representing approximately 15% of the Gross Domestic Product, after holding steady at 13.3% through most
of the 1990’s. The Company believes that volume from the front edge of the aging baby boomers is a fundamental driver behind this growth. And based
on the demographics, the volume will increase over the next 20 years.

The Company believes a convergence is occurring among many of healthcare’s major stakeholders, including hospital and health system boards of
directors, chief executives, and the doctors and nurses. This convergence is lessening resistance to making fundamental changes, and these major
stakeholders are beginning to accept the adoption of healthcare information technology as strategic to their success. Cerner solutions and services 
provide opportunities to alter the manual and inefficient manner in which this industry operates, as well as to address the issues of quality, safety, 
efficiency and workforce shortages. 

Further, the healthcare information technology industry stands to benefit as investment in information technology increasingly becomes a hot political
topic. For example, the Medicare reform bill contains important provisions on quality and pay-for-performance—a foundation that should accelerate the
industry's automation efforts. And the President affirmatively mentioned "computerizing health records" in his January 2004 State of the Union Address. 

There are also generally positive trends in the condition of healthcare providers, and the Company views their overall condition as relatively stable, with
the primary exception being hospitals with a higher mix of Medicaid revenues. Recent data from S&P supports the belief that the economic health 
of providers is stabilizing as it indicates that higher reimbursement, coupled with sustained demand for services, should improve the credit quality 
of hospitals. 

Results of Operations

Year Ended January 3, 2004, Compared to Year Ended December 28, 2002

The Company's revenues increased 8% to $839,587,000 in 2003 from $780,262,000 in 2002. The Company had net earnings of $42,791,000 in 2003
compared to $48,022,000 in 2002. Operating results for 2002, as described below, included a gain on the sale of available-for-sale securities and a
charge  for  the  impairment  of  investments,  and  a  change  in  accounting  principle  for  goodwill.  The  decrease  in  net  earnings  is  due  primarily  to  a 
higher increase in expenses than revenue compared to the prior year. As discussed above, revenue increased less than the Company expected because
of  the  decrease  in  new  contract  bookings  in  the  first  quarter  of  2003  and  the  shift  in  bookings  mix  to  more  managed  services  and  subscription 
bookings which are recognized as revenue over longer periods of time. The increase in expenses was driven primarily by continued investments in the
Company’s  development  of  software  and  by  sales  and  client  services  expenses.  Expense  also  increased  because  the  Company’s  2003  fiscal  year 
consisted of 53 weeks compared to 52 weeks in 2002. Operating results for 2002, as described below, included a gain on the sale of available-for-sale
securities and a charge for the impairment of investments, and a change in accounting principle for goodwill. 

Revenues - In 2003, revenues increased due to an increase in support of installed systems and an increase in services. Support, maintenance and
service revenues increased 14% to $476,795,000 in 2003 from $419,578,000 in 2002. Support and maintenance revenues were $209,877,000 and
$171,238,000 in 2003 and 2002, respectively. Services revenues were $266,918,000 and $248,340,000 in 2003 and 2002, respectively. Included in
support, maintenance and service revenues are support and maintenance of software and hardware and professional services, excluding installation.
This increase in support and maintenance revenue was due primarily to the increase in the Company’s installed and converted client base, that was
driven by bringing a record number of Cerner Millennium solutions live in 2002 and 2003. The increase in services revenue was driven primarily by an
increase in revenue from managed services, which increased $20,000,000 to $34,000,000 as the Company continued to experience high levels of
demand for hosting solutions in its data center. 

41

System  sales  were  $332,349,000  in  2003  compared  to  $332,274,000  in  2002.  Included  in  system  sales  are  revenues  from  the  sale  of  software, 
hardware and sublicensed software. System sales were flat because of the aforementioned first-quarter bookings shortfall and because of a shift in the
mix of bookings during the year.

Beginning in the first quarter of 2003, the Company began including proceeds from reimbursed travel expense in revenue with a corresponding amount
included in cost of revenues. This change has no impact on the dollar amount of gross margin, operating margin or net earnings, but does slightly
change the percent of revenue each of these items represent. Reimbursed travel was $30,443,000 in 2003 compared to $28,410,000 in 2002. 

At  January  3,  2004,  the  Company  had  $938,221,000  in  contract  backlog  and  $312,887,000  in  support  and  maintenance  backlog,  compared  to
$732,719,000 in contract backlog and $269,153,000 in support and maintenance backlog at the end of 2002.

Cost of Revenues - The cost of revenues includes the cost of reimbursed travel expense, third party consulting services and subscription content, 
computer hardware and sublicensed software purchased from computer and software manufacturers for delivery to clients. It also includes the cost of
hardware maintenance and sublicensed software support subcontracted to the manufacturers. The cost of revenues was 23% of total revenues in 2003,
and 24% of total revenues in 2002. Such costs, as a percent of revenues, typically have varied as the mix of revenue (software, hardware, services and
support)  components  carrying  different  margin  rates  changes  from  period  to  period.  The  decrease  in  the  cost  of  revenue  as  a  percent  of  total 
revenues resulted principally from a decrease in the percent of revenue from computer hardware and sublicensed software, which carry a higher cost
of revenue percentage. The Company believes this trend could continue because of strong demand for its managed service offering, which results in
lower hardware sales because the client does not pay for hardware upfront when it chooses this offering. 

Sales and Client Service - Sales and client service expenses include salaries of client service personnel, communications expenses and unreimbursed
travel  expenses.  Also  included  are  sales  and  marketing  salaries,  travel  expenses,  tradeshow  costs  and  advertising  costs.  These  expenses  as  a 
percent of total revenues were 42% and 41% in 2003 and 2002, respectively. The increase in total sales and client service expenses is attributable to
the cost of marketing of solutions. Expenses also increased due to the extra week in the 2003 fiscal year as described above. 

Software  Development  - Software  development  expenses  include  salaries,  documentation  and  other  direct  expenses  incurred  in  software 
development  and  amortization  of  software  development  costs.  Total  expenditures  for  software  development,  including  both  capitalized  and 
noncapitalized  portions,  for  2003  and  2002  were  $179,999,000  and  $149,985,000,  respectively.  These  amounts  exclude  amortization.  Capitalized 
software costs were $58,736,000 and $49,984,000 for 2003 and 2002, respectively.

General  and  Administrative  - General  and  administrative  expenses  include  salaries  for  corporate,  financial  and  administrative  staffs,  utilities, 
communications expenses and professional fees. These expenses as a percent of total revenues were 7% and 6% in 2003 and 2002, respectively. 

Interest Expense, Net - Interest income was $1,219,000 in 2003 compared to $1,080,000 in 2002. This increase is due primarily to an increase in
invested  cash  in  2003  compared  to  2002.  Interest  expense  was  $8,236,000  in  2003  compared  to  $6,635,000  in  2002.  This  increase  is  due 
primarily  to  the  increase  in  debt.  On  December  20,  2002,  the  Company  completed  a  $60,000,000  private  placement  of  debt  pursuant  to  a  Note
Agreement dated December 15, 2002. 

Other Income, Net - Other income increased to $142,000 in 2003 from $87,000 in 2002. Included in other revenues are revenues from office space
leased to third parties. 

Gain (Loss) on Sale of Investment - In December 2002, the Company exercised 1,048,783 warrants of WebMD with an exercise price of $3.08 and
a cost basis and carrying value of $4,146,000. The warrants were scheduled to expire on January 26, 2003. In December 2002, the Company sold
1,048,783 shares of WebMD for $8,242,000. Accordingly, the Company recorded an investment gain of $527,000, net of $342,000 in tax, as a result
of  the  exercise  of  the  warrants  and  the  sale  of  the  shares.  In  the  second  quarter  of  2002,  the  Company  sold  14,820,527  shares  of  WebMD  for
$90,119,000. Accordingly, the Company recorded an investment gain of $2,736,000, net of $1,572,000 in tax, as a result of the sale.

Impairment of Investment - The Company’s policy is to review declines in fair value of its marketable equity securities for declines that may be other
than temporary. Based on events occurring in the fourth quarter of 2002, the Company recorded a charge of $6,281,000, net of tax of $3,623,000, for
the impairment of various investments in non-publicly traded securities. The charge is primarily related to a $3,464,000, net of tax, write down of the
Company’s investment in Protocare, Inc, a non-publicly traded company. 

Income Taxes - The Company's effective tax rate was 39.9% in 2003 and 39.4% in 2002. As a result of a decrease in net income from 2002 to 2003,
the impact of permanent differences increased the Company’s effective tax rate.

Accounting Change - Effective December 30, 2001, the Company adopted the provisions of Statement of Financial Accounting Standards (SFAS) No.
142,  "Goodwill  and  Other  Intangible  Assets."  As  a  result,  goodwill  and  intangible  assets  with  indefinite  lives  are  no  longer  amortized  but  are
evaluated for impairment annually or whenever there is an impairment indicator. All goodwill is assigned to a reporting unit, where it is subject to an
impairment test based on fair value. The Company completed its transitional review of the Company’s goodwill values in the second quarter of 2002.
As  a  result  of  this  review,  the  Company  determined  that  goodwill  arising  from  the  acquisition  of  Mitch  Cooper  and  Associates  was  impaired  due 
to  declining  demand  and  margins  in  this  business.  Mitch  Cooper  and  Associates  was  a  supply  chain  re-engineering  consulting  practice.  The 
impairment charge to reflect this goodwill at fair value was $786,000, net of tax, and is reflected as a cumulative effect of a change in accounting 
principle as of the beginning of 2002. The Company used a discounted cash flow analysis to determine the fair value of the reporting units.

42

Year Ended December 28, 2002, Compared to Year Ended December 29, 2001

The Company's revenues increased 39% to $780,262,000 in 2002 from $560,802,000 in 2001. The Company had net earnings of $48,022,000 in 2002
compared  to  a  net  loss  of  $42,366,000  in  2001.  Operating  results  for  2002,  as  described  below,  included  a  gain  on  the  sale  of  available-for-sale 
securities and a charge for the impairment of investments, and a change in accounting principle for goodwill. Operating results for 2001, as described
below, included a gain on software license settlement and investment losses.

Revenues - In 2002, revenues increased due to an increase in system sales, support of installed systems and an increase in services. System sales
increased 36% to $332,274,000 in 2002 from $244,979,000 in 2001. Included in system sales are revenues from the sale of software, hardware and
sublicensed software. The increase in system sales is due to an increase in new contract bookings in 2002 compared to 2001.

Support, maintenance and service revenues increased 41% to $419,578,000 in 2002 from $297,444,000 in 2001. Support and maintenance revenues
were $171,238,000 and $140,666,000 in 2002 and 2001, respectively. Services revenues were $248,340,000 and $156,778,000 in 2002 and 2001,
respectively.  Included  in  support,  maintenance  and  service  revenues  are  support  and  maintenance  of  software  and  hardware,  and  professional 
services, excluding installation. This increase was due primarily to the increase in professional services, resulting from an increase in services related
to and services provided into the Company’s installed and converted client base.

At December 28, 2002, the Company had $732,719,000 in contract backlog and $269,153,000 in support and maintenance backlog, compared to
$566,280,000 in contract backlog and $221,393,000 in support and maintenance backlog at the end of 2001.

Cost of Revenues - The cost of revenues includes the cost of reimbursed travel expense, third party consulting services and subscription content, 
computer hardware and sublicensed software purchased from computer and software manufacturers for delivery to clients. It also includes the cost of
hardware maintenance and sublicensed software support subcontracted to the manufacturers. The cost of revenues was 24% of total revenues in 2002,
and 21% of total revenues in 2001. Such costs, as a percent of revenues, typically have varied as the mix of revenue (software, hardware, services and
support) components carrying different margin rates changes from period to period. The increase in the cost of revenue as a percent of total revenues
resulted  principally  from  an  increase  in  the  percent  of  revenue  from  computer  hardware  and  sublicensed  software,  which  carry  a  higher  cost  of 
revenue percentage. 

Sales and Client Service - Sales and client service expenses include salaries of client service personnel, communications expenses and unreimbursed
travel  expenses.  Also  included  are  sales  and  marketing  salaries,  travel  expenses,  tradeshow  costs  and  advertising  costs.  These  expenses  as  a 
percent of total revenues were 41% in 2002 and 40% in 2001. The increase in total sales and client service expenses is attributable to the cost of a
larger field sales and services organization and marketing of new solutions. 

Software  Development  - Software  development  expenses  include  salaries,  documentation  and  other  direct  expenses  incurred  in  software 
development  and  amortization  of  software  development  costs.  Total  expenditures  for  software  development,  including  both  capitalized  and 
noncapitalized  portions,  for  2002  and  2001  were  $149,985,000  and  $113,872,000,  respectively.  These  amounts  exclude  amortization.  Capitalized 
software costs were $49,984,000 and $37,828,000 for 2002 and 2001, respectively.

General  and  Administrative  - General  and  administrative  expenses  include  salaries  for  corporate,  financial  and  administrative  staffs,  utilities, 
communications expenses and professional fees. These expenses as a percent of total revenues were 6% in 2002 and 7% in 2001. 

Interest Expense, Net - Interest income was $1,080,000 in 2002 compared to $2,896,000 in 2001. This decrease is due primarily to a decrease in
interest rates and average invested cash. Interest expense was $6,635,000 in 2002 compared to $7,321,000 in 2001, primarily as a result of lower
borrowing levels during the year. 

Other Income, Net - Other income decreased to $87,000 in 2002 from $182,000 in 2001. Included in other revenues are revenues from office space
leased to third parties. 

Gain (Loss) on Sale of Investment - In December 2002, the Company exercised 1,048,783 warrants of WebMD with an exercise price of $3.08 and
a cost basis and carrying value of $4,146,000. The warrants were scheduled to expire on January 26, 2003. In December 2002, the Company sold
1,048,783 shares of WebMD for $8,242,000. Accordingly, the Company recorded an investment gain of $527,000, net of $342,000 in tax, as a result
of  the  exercise  of  the  warrants  and  the  sale  of  the  shares.  In  the  second  quarter  of  2002,  the  Company  sold  14,820,527  shares  of  WebMD  for
$90,119,000. Accordingly, the Company recorded an investment gain of $2,736,000, net of $1,572,000 in tax, as a result of the sale.

Impairment of Investment - The Company’s policy is to review declines in fair value of its marketable equity securities for declines that may be other
than temporary. Based on events occurring in the fourth quarter of 2002, the Company recorded a charge of $6,281,000, net of tax of $3,623,000, for
the impairment of various investments in non-publicly traded securities. The charge is primarily related to a $3,464,000, net of tax, write down of the
Company’s investment in Protocare, Inc, a non-publicly traded company. During the second quarter of 2001, the Company recorded a write-down of
its investment in WebMD from $15.00 to $5.79. Accordingly, the Company recognized a charge to earnings of $81,419,000, net of $46,197,000 in tax.

Gain  on  Software  License  Settlement  - On  June  18,  2001,  the  Company  reached  an  agreement  with  WebMD  Corporation  regarding  certain 
performance metrics related to specified levels of physician usage arising out of the original license transaction between the Company and WebMD.
Under the agreement, the Company received 2,000,000 shares of WebMD stock, valued at $11,580,000, in exchange for $432,000 in cash and the
cancellation of various obligations due to the Company by WebMD. As a result of this agreement, the Company recognized a gain of $4,836,000, net
of $2,744,000 in tax.

43

Income Taxes - The Company's effective tax rate was an expense of 39% in 2002 and a benefit of 33% in 2001. The benefit is a result of the loss on
the WebMD shares and other permanent differences.

Accounting  Change  - Effective  December  30,  2001,  the  Company  adopted  the  provisions  of  Statement  of  Financial  Accounting  Standards  (SFAS) 
No.  142,  "Goodwill  and  Other  Intangible  Assets."  As  a  result,  goodwill  and  intangible  assets  with  indefinite  lives  are  no  longer  amortized  but  are
evaluated for impairment annually or whenever there is an impairment indicator. All goodwill is assigned to a reporting unit, where it is subject to an
impairment test based on fair value. The Company completed its transitional review of the Company’s goodwill values in the second quarter of 2002.
As a result of this review, the Company determined that goodwill arising from the acquisition of Mitch Cooper and Associates was impaired due to
declining  demand  and  margins  in  this  business.  Mitch  Cooper  and  Associates  was  a  supply  chain  re-engineering  consulting  practice.  The 
impairment charge to reflect this goodwill at fair value was $786,000, net of tax, and is reflected as a cumulative effect of a change in accounting 
principle as of the beginning of 2002. The Company used a discounted cash flow analysis to determine the fair value of the reporting units.

Liquidity and Capital Resources

The Company's liquidity is influenced by many factors, including the amount and timing of the Company's revenues, its cash collections from its clients
and the amounts the Company invests in software development, acquisitions and capital expenditures. 

The Company’s principal source of liquidity is its cash and cash equivalents. The majority of the Company’s cash and cash equivalents consist of U.S.
Government Federal Agency Securities, short-term marketable securities and overnight repurchase agreements. At January 3, 2004 the Company had
cash  and  cash  equivalents  of  $121,839,000  and  working  capital  of  $251,500,000  compared  to  cash  and  cash  equivalents  of  $142,543,000  and 
working capital of $282,135,000 at December 28, 2002. 

The Company generated cash of $134,150,000, $36,906,000 and $64,838,000 from operations in 2003, 2002 and 2001, respectively. Cash flow from
operations increased in 2003 due primarily to increased collections of receivables, improved payment terms and record level conversions. The Company
has  periodically  provided  long-term  financing  options  to  creditworthy  clients  through  third  party  financing  institutions  and  has  on  occasion  directly 
provided  extended  payment  terms  from  contract  date.  Certain  of  these  receivables  have  been  assigned  on  a  non-recourse  basis  to  third  party 
financing  institutions.  The  company  has  provided  its  usual  and  customary  performance  guarantees  to  the  third  party  financing  institutions  in 
connection with its on-going obligations under the client contract. During 2003 and 2002, the Company generated cash flow from third party client
financing  arrangements  and  non-recourse  payment  assignments  aggregating  $58,654,000  and  $30,073,000,  respectively.  Days  sales  outstanding
decreased from 116 days at the end of 2002 to 103 days at the end of 2003. Although the Company continues with its initiative to improve days sales
outstanding, we do not expect the rate of decline experienced in 2003 to continue. Revenues provided under support and maintenance agreements 
represent recurring cash flows. Support and maintenance revenues increased 23% in 2003 and 22% in each of 2002 and 2001, and the Company
expects these revenues to continue to grow as the base of installed systems grows.

Cash used in investing activities consisted primarily of capitalized software development costs of $58,736,000 and $49,984,000 and purchases of 
capital equipment, land and buildings of $83,583,000 and $59,699,000 in 2003 and 2002, respectively. In the first quarter of 2002, the Company began
construction of a new facility situated between the buildings located at 2800 and 2900 Rockcreek Parkway on the Company’s World Headquarter’s
campus (Campus). This facility was completed on August 1, 2003 and is approximately 123,000 square feet in size. This new facility, referred to as
Cerner’s World Headquarters Building, houses offices, a cafeteria and meeting space for the Company. In 2002, the Company also began construction
of a new office building located on the Campus. This facility was completed in December of 2003 and houses office and meeting space for the Company.
The  Company  also  completed  acquisitions  of  businesses  for  $6,380,000  and  $26,016,000,  net  of  cash  received,  in  2003  and  2002, 
respectively. In 2002, the Company had proceeds from the sale of shares of WebMD of $95,134,000.

Prior to June 2002, the Company had a loan agreement with a bank that provided for a current revolving line of credit for working capital purposes. In
June 2002, the Company expanded its credit facility by entering into an unsecured revolving credit agreement with a group of banks led by U.S. Bank.
The  new  credit  facility  increased  the  amount  the  Company  may  borrow  from  $45,000,000  to  $90,000,000.  The  fee  rate  on  the  new  facility  is 
approximately the same as the prior facility. The revolving line of credit is unsecured and requires monthly payments of interest only. Interest is payable
at the Company’s option at a rate based on prime (4.00% at January 3, 2004) or LIBOR (1.12% at January 3, 2004) plus 2%. The interest rate may be
reduced  by  up  to  1%  if  certain  net  worth  ratios  are  maintained.  At  January  3,  2004,  the  Company  had  no  outstanding  borrowings  under  this 
agreement  and  had  $90,000,000  available  for  working  capital  purposes.  The  agreement  contains  certain  net  worth,  debt  levels  and  fixed  charge 
coverage covenants and provides certain restrictions on the Company’s ability to borrow, incur liens, sell assets and pay dividends. A commitment fee
of 1/2% or 3/10% is payable quarterly based on the usage of the revolving line of credit. The revolving line of credit matures on May 31, 2005. The
Company was in compliance with all covenants at January 3, 2004. 

In December 2002, the Company completed a $60,000,000 private placement of debt pursuant to a Note Agreement. The Series A Senior Notes, with
a $21,000,000 principal amount at 5.57%, are payable in three equal annual installments beginning in December 2006. The Series B Senior notes, with
a $39,000,000 principal amount at 6.42%, are payable in four equal annual installments beginning December 2009. The proceeds were used to repay
the outstanding amount under the bank loan agreement and will be used for general corporate purposes. The Note Agreement contains certain net worth
and fixed charge coverage covenants and provides certain restrictions on the Company’s ability to borrow, incur liens, sell assets and pay dividends.
The Company was in compliance with all covenants at January 3, 2004. 

44

In April 1999, the Company completed a $100,000,000 private placement of debt pursuant to a Note Agreement. The Series A Senior Notes, with a
$60,000,000  principal  amount  at  7.14%,  are  payable  in  five  equal  annual  installments  beginning  in  April  2002.  The  Series  B  Senior  Notes,  with  a
$40,000,000  principal  amount  at  7.66%,  are  payable  in  six  equal  annual  installments  beginning  April  2004.  The  proceeds  were  used  to  retire  the
Company’s existing $30,000,000 of debt, and the remaining funds were used for capital improvements and to strengthen the Company’s cash position.
The  Note  Agreement  contains  certain  net  worth,  current,  and  fixed  charge  coverage  covenants  and  provides  certain  restrictions  on  the  Company’s 
ability to borrow, incur liens, sell assets and pay dividends. The Company was in compliance with all covenants at January 3, 2004. 

The Company believes that its present cash position, together with cash generated from operations and if necessary the line of credit, will be sufficient
to meet anticipated cash requirements during 2004.

The  following  table  represents  a  summary  of  the  Company’s  contractual  obligations  and  commercial  commitments  as  of  January  3,  2004,  except 
short-term purchase order commitments arising in the ordinary course.

Payments due by period

Contractual Obligations (in thousands)

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009 
and thereafter

Total

Long-Term Debt Obligations
Lease Obligations
Acquisition Related Commitments 
Supplier Software Purchase Commitments 
Other 

Total

21,162
11,320
4,318
6,117
1,233

44,150

21,358
6,121
-
1,592
1,800

30,871

28,246
4,184
-
-
1,700

34,130

15,004
3,085
5,000
-
-

23,089

14,295
2,659
-
-
-

16,954

45,667
6,872
-
-
-

145,732
34,241
9,318
7,709
4,733

52,539

201,733

The effects of inflation on the Company's business during 2003, 2002 and 2001 were not significant.

Critical Accounting Policies

The Company believes that there are several accounting policies that are critical to understanding the Company’s historical and future performance, as
these policies affect the reported amount of revenue and other significant areas involving management’s judgments and estimates. These significant
accounting  policies  relate  to  revenue  recognition,  software  development,  other  than  temporary  declines  in  the  market  value  of  investments, 
concentrations, allowance for doubtful accounts and potential impairments of goodwill. These policies and the Company’s procedures related to these
policies are described in detail below and under specific areas within the Discussion and Analysis of the Company’s financial condition and results of
operations. In addition, Note 1 to the accompanying financial statements expands upon discussion of the Company’s accounting policies.

Revenue Recognition
The Company recognizes its multiple element arrangements, including software and software-related services, using the residual method under SOP
98-9. Key factors in our revenue recognition model are management’s assessments that installation services are essential to the functionality of our
software whereas implementation services are not. If our business model were to change such that implementation services became essential to the
functionality  of  our  software,  the  period  of  time  over  which  our  licensed  software  revenue  were  to  be  recognized  would  lengthen.  We  generally 
recognize  revenue  from  the  sale  of  our  licensed  software  over  two  key  milestones,  delivery  and  installation,  based  on  percentages  that  reflect  the 
underlying  effort  from  planning  to  installation.  Additionally,  if  the  time  to  achieve  our  delivery  and  installation  milestones  for  our  licensed  software 
were  to  be  accelerated  or  decelerated,  our  milestones  would  be  adjusted  and  the  timing  of  revenue  recognition  for  our  licensed  software  could 
materially change.

Software Development Costs
Costs incurred internally in creating computer software solutions are expensed until technological feasibility has been established upon completion of
a detailed program design. Thereafter, all software development costs are capitalized and subsequently reported at the lower of amortized cost or net
realizable  value.  Capitalized  costs  are  amortized  based  on  current  and  expected  future  revenue  for  each  software  solution  with  minimum  annual 
amortization equal to the straight-line amortization over the estimated economic life of the software solution. The Company is amortizing capitalized
costs over five years. 

The  Company  expects  that  major  software  information  systems  companies,  large  information  technology  consulting  service  providers  and  systems 
integrators, Internet-based start-up companies and others specializing in the healthcare industry may offer competitive products or services. The pace
of  change  in  the  healthcare  information  systems  market  is  rapid  and  there  are  frequent  new  product  introductions,  product  enhancements  and 
evolving  industry  standards  and  requirements.  As  a  result,  the  capitalized  software  solutions  may  become  less  valuable  or  obsolete  and  could  be 
subject to impairment.

45

Investments
The Company accounts for its investments in equity securities, which have readily determinable fair values as available-for-sale. Available-for-sale
securities  are  reported  at  fair  value  with  unrealized  gains  and  losses  reported,  net  of  tax,  as  a  separate  component  of  accumulated  other 
comprehensive income. For realized gains and losses on available-for-sale investments, the Company utilizes the specific identification method as the
basis to determine cost. Investments in the common stock of certain affiliates over which the Company exerts significant influence are accounted for
by the equity method.

The Company has certain other minority equity investments in non-publicly traded securities. These investments are generally carried at cost as the
Company owns less than 20% of the voting equity and does not have the ability to exercise significant influence over these companies. The balance of
these investments at January 3, 2004 and December 28, 2002 was $680,000 and $876,000, respectively. These investments are inherently high risk
as  the  market  for  technologies  and  content  by  these  companies  are  usually  early  stage  at  the  time  of  the  investment  by  the  Company  and  such 
markets may never be significant. The Company could lose its entire investment in certain or all of these companies. The Company monitors these
investments for impairment and makes appropriate reductions in carrying values when necessary. 

The Company reviews all equity securities for declines in fair value. If such declines are considered to be other than temporary, the cost basis of the
individual security is written down to fair value as a new cost basis, and the amount of the write-down is included in earnings.

Concentrations
Substantially  all  of  the  Company’s  cash  and  cash  equivalents  and  short-term  investments,  are  held  at  three  major  U.S.  financial  institutions.  The 
majority  of  the  Company’s  cash  equivalents  consist  of  U.S.  Government  Federal  Agency  Securities,  short-term  marketable  securities  and  overnight
repurchase agreements. Deposits held with banks may exceed the amount of insurance provided on such deposits. Generally these deposits may be
redeemed upon demand and, therefore, bear minimal risk. 

Substantially all of the Company’s clients are integrated delivery networks, hospitals and other healthcare related organizations. If significant adverse
macro-economic  factors  were  to  impact  these  organizations  it  could  materially  adversely  affect  the  Company.  The  Company’s  access  to  certain 
software and hardware components is dependent upon single and sole source suppliers. The inability of any supplier to fulfill supply requirements of
the Company could affect future results.

Allowance for Doubtful Accounts
If  the  creditworthiness  of  our  clients  were  to  weaken  or  our  collections  results  relative  to  historical  experience  were  to  decline,  it  could  have  a 
material adverse impact on operations and cash flows.

Goodwill
Effective December 30, 2001, the Company adopted the provisions of Statement of Financial Accounting Standards (SFAS) No. 142, "Goodwill and Other
Intangible Assets." As a result, goodwill and intangible assets with indefinite lives are no longer amortized but are evaluated for impairment annually or
whenever there is an impairment indicator. All goodwill is assigned to a reporting unit, where it is subject to an impairment test based on fair value.
The Company completed its transitional review of the Company’s goodwill values in the second quarter of 2002. As a result of this review, the Company
determined  that  goodwill  arising  from  the  acquisition  of  Mitch  Cooper  and  Associates  was  impaired  due  to  declining  demand  and  margins  in  this 
business. Mitch Cooper and Associates was a supply chain re-engineering consulting practice. The impairment charge to reflect this goodwill at fair
value was $786,000, net of tax, and is reflected as a cumulative effect of a change in accounting principle as of the beginning of 2002. The Company
again  assessed  its  goodwill  for  impairment  in  the  second  quarter  of  2003  and  concluded  that  no  goodwill  was  impaired.  The  Company  used  a 
discounted cash flow analysis to determine the fair value of the reporting units for all periods. The Company completed three acquisitions subsequent
to June 30, 2001, which resulted in approximately, $36.7 million of goodwill that was not amortized in accordance with SFAS 142. For the year ended
2001, earnings included $1,758,000 of amortization of goodwill, net of tax. Goodwill amounted to $51,573,000 and $45,938,000 at January 3, 2004
and  December  28,  2003,  respectively.  If  future,  anticipated  cash  flows  from  the  Company’s  reporting  units,  that  recognized  goodwill,  did  not 
materialize as expected the Company’s goodwill could be impaired, which would result in significant write-offs. 

Factors That May Affect Future Results of Operations, Financial Condition or Business

Statements made in this report, the Annual Report to Shareholders in which this report is made a part, other reports and proxy statements filed with
the  Securities  and  Exchange  Commission,  communications  to  shareholders,  press  releases  and  oral  statements  made  by  representatives  of  the
Company that are not historical in nature, or that state the Company's or management's intentions, hopes, beliefs, expectations or predictions of the
future, may constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the
"Exchange Act"). Forward-looking statements can often be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology, such as "could," "should," "will,"
"intended," "continue," "believe," "may," "expect," "hope," "anticipate," "goal," "forecast," "plan," or "estimate" or the negative of these words, 
variations  thereof  or  similar  expressions.  Forward-looking  statements  are  not  guarantees  of  future  performance  or  results.  They  involve  risks, 
uncertainties  and  assumptions.  It  is  important  to  note  that  any  such  performance  and  actual  results,  financial  condition  or  business,  could  differ 
materially  from  those  expressed  in  such  forward-looking  statements.  Factors  that  could  cause  or  contribute  to  such  differences  include,  but  are 
not  limited  to,  those  discussed  below  as  well  as  those  discussed  elsewhere  herein  or  in  other  reports  filed  with  the  Securities  and  Exchange
Commission. Other unforeseen factors not identified herein could also have such an effect. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise

46

forward-looking statements to reflect changed assumptions, the occurrence of unanticipated events or changes in future operating results, financial
condition or business over time.

Quarterly  Operating  Results  May  Vary  - The  Company's  quarterly  operating  results  have  varied  in  the  past  and  may  continue  to  vary  in  future 
periods. Quarterly operating results may vary for a number of reasons including accounting policy changes mandated by regulating entities, demand
for the Company's software solutions and services, the Company's long sales cycle, potentially long installation and implementation cycles for these
larger, more complex and costlier systems and other factors described in this section and elsewhere in this report. As a result of healthcare industry
trends and the market for the Company's Cerner Millennium solutions, a large percentage of the Company's revenues are generated by the sale and
installation  of  larger,  more  complex  and  costlier  systems.  The  sales  process  for  these  systems  is  lengthy  and  involves  a  significant  technical 
evaluation  and  commitment  of  capital  and  other  resources  by  the  client.  The  sale  may  be  subject  to  delays  due  to  clients'  internal  budgets  and 
procedures  for  approving  large  capital  expenditures  and  by  competing  needs  for  other  capital  expenditures  and  deploying  new  technologies  or 
personnel resources. Delays in the expected sale or installation of these large contracts may have a significant impact on the Company's anticipated
quarterly revenues and consequently its earnings, since a significant percentage of the Company's expenses are relatively fixed. 

These larger, more complex and costlier systems are installed and implemented over time periods ranging from approximately one month to three years
and may involve significant efforts both by the Company and the client. The Company recognizes revenue upon the completion of standard milestone
conditions and the amount of revenue recognized in any quarter depends upon the Company's and the client's ability to meet these project milestones.
Delays in meeting these milestone conditions or modification of the contract relating to one or more of these systems could result in a shift of revenue
recognition from one quarter to another and could have a material adverse effect on results of operations for a particular quarter. In addition, support
payments by clients for the Company's solutions generally do not commence until the solution is in use. 

The Company's revenues from system sales historically have been lower in the first quarter of the year and greater in the fourth quarter of the year,
primarily as a result of the clients’ year-end efforts to make all final capital expenditures for the then current year.

Stock Price May Be Volatile - The trading price of the Company's common stock may be volatile. The market for the Company's common stock may
experience  significant  price  and  volume  fluctuations  in  response  to  a  number  of  factors  including  actual  or  anticipated  quarterly  variations  in 
operating results, rumors about the Company’s performance or software solutions, changes in expectations of future financial performance or changes
in estimates of securities analysts, governmental regulatory action, healthcare reform measures, client relationship developments, changes occurring
in the securities markets in general and other factors, many of which are beyond the Company's control. As a matter of policy, the Company does not
generally comment on rumors.

Furthermore, the stock market in general, and the market for software, healthcare and information technology companies in particular, has experienced
extreme volatility that often has been unrelated to the operating performance of particular companies. These broad market and industry fluctuations
may adversely affect the trading price of the Company's common stock, regardless of actual operating performance.

Market  Risk  of  Investments  - The  Company  accounts  for  its  investments  in  equity  securities,  which  have  readily  determinable  fair  values  as 
available-for-sale.  Available-for-sale  securities  are  reported  at  fair  value  with  unrealized  gains  and  losses  reported,  net  of  tax,  as  a  separate 
component  of  accumulated  other  comprehensive  income.  Investments  in  the  common  stock  of  certain  affiliates  over  which  the  Company  exerts 
significant  influence  are  accounted  for  by  the  equity  method.  Investments  in  other  equity  securities  are  reported  at  cost.  The Company  reviews  all 
equity  securities  for  declines  in  fair  value.  If  such  declines  are  considered  to  be  other  than  temporary,  the  cost  basis  of  the  individual  security  is 
written down to fair value at a new cost basis, and the amount of the write-down is included in earnings. 

The Company also has certain other minority equity investments in non-publicly traded securities. These investments are generally carried at cost as
the  Company  owns  less  than  20%  of  the  voting  equity  and  does  not  have  the  ability  to  exercise  significant  influence  over  these  companies.  The 
carrying value of these investments at January 3, 2004 and December 28, 2002 was $680,000 and $876,000, respectively. These investments are
inherently high risk as the market for technologies and content by these companies are usually early stage at the time of the investment by the Company
and  such  markets  may  never  be  significant.  The  Company  could  lose  its  entire  investment  in  certain  or  all  of  these  companies.  The  Company 
monitors these investments for impairment and makes appropriate reductions in carrying values when necessary.

At  January  3,  2004,  marketable  securities  (which  consist  of  money  market  and  commercial  paper)  of  the  Company  were  recorded  at  cost,  which 
approximates  fair  value  of  approximately  $122  million,  with  an  overall  average  return  of  approximately  1.56%  and  an  overall  weighted  maturity  of 
less  than  90  days.  The  marketable  securities  held  by  the  Company  are  not  subject  to  significant  price  risk  as  a  result  of  the  short-term  nature  of 
the investments.

The  Company  has  limited  exposure  to  material  future  earnings  or  cash  flow  exposures  from  changes  in  interest  rates  on  long-term  debt  since 
substantially all of its long-term debt is at a fixed rate. The Company also had no borrowings outstanding under its working capital line of credit, which
has a variable interest rate based on prime (4% at January 3, 2004) or LIBOR (1.12% at January 3, 2004) plus 2%. To date, the Company has not
entered into any derivative financial instruments to manage interest rate risk.

The Company conducts business in several foreign jurisdictions. However, the business transacted is in the local functional currency and the Company
does not currently have any material exposure to foreign currency transaction gains or losses. All other business transactions are in U.S. dollars. To
date, the Company has not entered into any derivative financial instruments to manage foreign currency risk.

47

Changes  in  the  Healthcare  Industry  - The  healthcare  industry  is  highly  regulated  and  is  subject  to  changing  political,  economic  and  regulatory 
influences. For example, the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 (Public Law 105-32) contains significant changes to Medicare and Medicaid and began to
have  its  initial  impact  in  1998  due  to  limitations  on  reimbursement,  resulting  cost  containment  initiatives,  and  effects  on  pricing  and  demand  for 
capital  intensive  systems.  In  addition,  the  Health  Insurance  Portability  and  Accountability  Act  of  1996  (HIPAA)  is  having  a  direct  impact  on  the 
healthcare industry by requiring identifiers and standardized transactions/code sets and necessary security and privacy measures in order to ensure the
protection  of  patient  health  information.  These  factors  affect  the  purchasing  practices  and  operation  of  healthcare  organizations.  Federal  and  state 
legislatures have periodically considered programs to reform or amend the U.S. healthcare system at both the federal and state level and to change
healthcare financing and reimbursement systems. These programs may contain proposals to increase governmental involvement in healthcare, lower
reimbursement  rates  or  otherwise  change  the  environment  in  which  healthcare  industry  participants  operate.  Healthcare  industry  participants  may
respond by reducing their investments or postponing investment decisions, including investments in the Company's software solutions and services. 

Many healthcare providers are consolidating to create integrated healthcare delivery systems with greater market power. These providers may try to
use  their  market  power  to  negotiate  price  reductions  for  the  Company's  software  solutions  and  services.  As  the  healthcare  industry  consolidates, 
the  Company's  client  base  could  be  eroded,  competition  for  clients  could  become  more  intense  and  the  importance  of  acquiring  each  client 
become greater.

Significant Competition - The market for healthcare information systems is intensely competitive, rapidly evolving and subject to rapid technological
change. The Company believes that the principal competitive factors in this market include the breadth and quality of system and software solution
offerings, the stability of the information systems provider, the features and capabilities of the information systems, the ongoing support for the system
and the potential for enhancements and future compatible software solutions.

Certain of the Company's competitors have greater financial, technical, product development, marketing and other resources than the Company and
some  of  its  competitors  offer  software  solutions  that  it  does  not  offer.  The  Company's  principal  existing  competitors  include  GE  Medical  Systems,
Siemens Medical Solutions Health Services Corporation, IDX Systems Corporation, McKesson Corporation, Eclipsys Corporation, Medical Information
Technology,  Inc.  ("Meditech")  and  Epic  Systems  Corporation,  each  of  which  offers  a  suite  of  software  solutions  that  compete  with  many  of  the
Company's software solutions and services. There are other competitors that offer a more limited number of competing software solutions.

In addition, the Company expects that major software information systems companies, large information technology consulting service providers and
system integrators, Internet-based start-up companies and others specializing in the healthcare industry may offer competitive software/solutions or
services.  The  pace  of  change  in  the  healthcare  information  systems  market  is  rapid  and  there  are  frequent  new  software  solution  introductions, 
software solution enhancements and evolving industry standards and requirements. As a result, the Company's success will depend upon its ability to
keep pace with technological change and to introduce, on a timely and cost-effective basis, new and enhanced software solutions and services that
satisfy changing client requirements and achieve market acceptance. 

Proprietary  Technology  May  Be  Subjected  to  Infringement  Claims  or  May  Be  Infringed  Upon  -  The  Company  relies  upon  a  combination  of  license 
agreements,  confidentiality  procedures,  employee  nondisclosure  agreements  and  technical  measures  to  maintain  the  confidentiality  and  trade 
secrecy  of  its  proprietary  information.  The  Company  also  relies  on  trademark  and  copyright  laws  to  protect  its  intellectual  property.  The  Company 
has  initiated  a  patent  program  but  currently  has  a  very  limited  patent  portfolio.  As  a  result,  the  Company  may  not  be  able  to  protect  against 
misappropriation of its intellectual property.

In addition, the Company could be subject to intellectual property infringement claims as the number of competitors grows and the functionality of its
software solutions and services expands. These claims, even if not meritorious, could be expensive to defend. If the Company becomes liable to third
parties for infringing their intellectual property rights, it could be required to pay a substantial damage award and to develop noninfringing technology,
obtain a license or cease selling the software solutions that contain the infringing intellectual property.

Government  Regulation  - The  United  States  Food  and  Drug  Administration  (the  "FDA")  has  declared  that  software  products  intended  for  the 
maintenance of data used in making decisions regarding the suitability of blood donors and the release of blood or blood components for transfusion
are medical devices under the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act ("Act") and amendments to the Act. As a consequence, the Company is subject to
extensive  regulation  by  the  FDA  with  regard  to  its  blood  bank  software.  If  other  of  the  Company's  software  solutions  are  deemed  to  be  actively 
regulated  medical  devices  by  the  FDA,  the  Company  could  be  subject  to  extensive  requirements  governing  pre-  and  post-marketing  requirements
including pre-market notification clearance prior to marketing. Complying with these FDA regulations would be time consuming and expensive. It is 
possible that the FDA may become more active in regulating computer software that is used in healthcare.

There have been four FDA inspections since 1998 at various Cerner sites. Three of the FDA inspections resulted in no FDA Form 483 being issued while
one of the four inspections resulted in the issuance of a one item FDA Form 483 that the Company responded to promptly. There can be no assurance,
however, that the Company's actions taken in response to the Form 483 will be deemed adequate by the FDA or that additional actions on behalf of the
Company will not be required. In addition, the Company remains subject to periodic FDA inspections and there can be no assurances that the Company
will not be required to undertake additional actions to comply with the Act and any other applicable regulatory requirements. Any failure by the Company
to comply with the Act and any other applicable regulatory requirements could have a material adverse effect on the Company's ability to continue 
to  manufacture  and  distribute  its  software  solutions.  The  FDA  has  many  enforcement  tools  including  recalls,  seizures,  injunctions,  civil  fines 
and/or  criminal  prosecutions.  Any  of  the  foregoing  could  have  a  material  adverse  effect  on  the  Company's  business,  results  of  operations  or 
financial condition.

48

Product Related Liabilities - Many of the Company's software solutions provide data for use by healthcare providers in providing care to patients.
Although no such claims have been brought against the Company to date regarding injuries related to the use of its software solutions, such claims may
be made in the future. Although the Company maintains product liability insurance coverage in an amount that it believes is sufficient for its business,
there  can  be  no  assurance  that  such  coverage  will  cover  a  particular  claim  that  may  be  brought  in  the  future,  prove  to  be  adequate  or  that  such 
coverage  will  continue  to  remain  available  on  acceptable  terms,  if  at  all.  A  successful  claim  brought  against  the  Company,  which  is  uninsured,  or 
under-insured could materially harm its business, results of operations or financial condition.

System Errors and Warranties - The Company's systems, particularly the Cerner Millennium versions, are very complex. As with complex systems
offered by others, the Company's systems may contain errors, especially when first introduced. Although the Company conducts extensive testing, it
has  discovered  software  errors  in  its  software  solutions  after  their  introduction.  The  Company's  systems  are  intended  for  use  in  collecting  and 
displaying  clinical  information  used  in  the  diagnosis  and  treatment  of  patients.  Therefore,  users  of  the  Company  software  solutions  have  a  greater 
sensitivity to system errors than the market for software products generally. The Company's agreements with its clients typically provide warranties
against material errors and other matters. Failure of a client's system to meet these criteria could constitute a material breach under such contracts
allowing the client to cancel the contract and obtain a refund and/or damages, or could require the Company to incur additional expense in order to
make the system meet these criteria. The Company's contracts with its clients generally limit the Company's liability arising from such claims but such
limits may not be enforceable in certain jurisdictions or circumstances. 

Risks Associated with the Company’s Global Operations – The Company markets, sells and services its software solutions globally. The Company
has established offices around the world, including in North America, Europe and in the Asia Pacific region. The Company will continue to expand its
global  operations  and  enter  new  global  markets.  This  expansion  will  require  significant  management  attention  and  financial  resources  to  develop 
successful direct and indirect global sales and support channels. In some countries, the Company’s success will depend in part on its ability to form
relationships with local partners. There is a risk that the Company may sometimes choose the wrong partner. For these reasons, the Company may not
be able to maintain or increase global market demand for its software solutions.

Global  operations  are  subject  to  inherent  risks,  and  the  Company’s  future  results  could  be  adversely  affected  by  a  variety  of  uncontrollable  and 
changing factors. These include:

A Greater difficulty in collecting accounts receivable and longer collection periods;

A Difficulties and costs of staffing and managing foreign operations;

A The impact of economic conditions outside the United States;

A Unexpected changes in regulatory requirements;

A Certification or regulatory requirements;

A Reduced protection of intellectual property rights in some countries;

A Potentially adverse tax consequences;

A Different of additional functionality requirements;

A Trade protection measures and other regulatory requirements;

A Service provider and government spending patterns;

A Natural disasters, war or terrorist acts;

A Poor selection of a partner in a country; and

A Political conditions which may impact sales or threaten the safety of associates or the continued presence of the Company in these countries.

Recruitment and Retention of Key Personnel – To remain competitive in the healthcare information technology industry, the Company must attract,
motivate and retain highly skilled managerial, sales, marketing, consulting and technical personnel, including executives, consultants, programmers
and  systems  architects  skilled  in  the  healthcare  information  technology  industry  and  the  technical  environments  in  which  the  Company’s  solutions 
operate.  Competition  for  such  personnel  in  this  industry  is  intense.  The  Company’s  failure  to  attract  additional  qualified  personnel  could  have  a 
material adverse effect on the Company’s prospects for long-term growth. The success of the Company is dependent to a significant degree on the 
continued  contributions  of  key  management,  sales,  marketing,  consulting  and  technical  personnel.  The  Company  has  succession  plans  in  place; 
however, the unexpected loss of key personnel could have a material adverse impact to the Company’s business and results of operations, and could
potentially inhibit solution development and market share advances. 

Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk

Information  contained  under  the  caption  "Factors  That  May  Affect  Future  Results  of  Operations,  Financial  Condition  or  Business  --  Market  Risk  of
Investments"  set  forth  under  "Management's  Discussion  and  Analysis  of  Financial  Condition  and  Results  of  Operations"  in  Item  7  is  incorporated 
herein by reference.

49

Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data

The Financial Statements and Notes required by this Item are submitted as a separate part of this report.

Item 9. Changes in and Disagreements with Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure

None. 

Item 9.A. Controls and Procedures

a) Evaluation of disclosure controls and procedures. The Company’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) have evaluated
the effectiveness of the Company’s disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in the Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) as of the
end of the period covered by the Annual Report (the "Evaluation Date’). They have concluded that, as of the Evaluation Date, these disclosure
controls and procedures were effective to ensure that material information relating to the Company and its consolidated subsidiaries would be
made known to them by others within those entities and would be disclosed on a timely basis.

b) Changes in internal control over financial reporting. As of the end of the period covered by this Annual Report, there were no changes in the
Company’s internal control over financial reporting that occurred during the three months ended January 3, 2004 that have materially affected
or are reasonable likely to materially affect the Company’s internal control over financial reporting.

c) Limitations on the effectiveness of controls. The Company’s management, including the CEO and CFO, does not expect that the Company’s 
disclosure controls and procedures will prevent all error and fraud. A control system, no matter how well conceived and operated, can provide
only reasonable, not absolute, assurance that the objectives of the control system are met.

PART III
Item 10. Directors and Executive Officers of the Registrant

The Registrant's Proxy Statement to be used in connection with the Annual Meeting of Shareholders to be held on May 28, 2004, will contain under the
caption "Election of Directors" certain information required by Item 10 of Form 10-K and such information is incorporated herein by this reference. The
information required by Item 10 of Form 10-K as to executive officers is set forth in Item 4A of Part I hereof.

The Registrant's Proxy Statement to be used in connection with the Annual Meeting of Shareholders to be held on May 28, 2004, will contain under the
caption  "Compliance  with  Section  16(a)  of  the  Securities  Exchange  Act  of  1934"  certain  information  required  by  Item  10  of  Form  10-K  and  such 
information is incorporated herein by this reference.

Audit Committee Financial Expert

The Board of Directors has determined that Gerald E. Bisbee, Jr., Ph.D., a member of the Company’s Audit Committee, is an audit committee financial
expert as that term is defined under Item 401(h) of Regulation S-K.

Code of Conduct; Corporate Governance Guidelines and Committee Charters

The Board of Directors of the Company has adopted a Code of Conduct that applies to the Company’s principal executive officer, principal financial 
officer, controller and all other associates of the Company, including its directors and other officers. The Company has posted the text of the Code of
Conduct on its Web site at www.cerner.com under "Investors/Corporate Governance."

The  Board  of  Directors  of  the  Company  has  also  adopted  Corporate  Governance  Guidelines,  which  are  posted  on  the  Company’s  web  site  at 
www.cerner.com under "Investors/Corporate Governance."

The charters for the Audit Committee, the Compensation Committee and the Nominating, Governance & Public Policy Committee are also available on
the Company’s web site at www.cerner.com under "Investors/Corporate Governance."

A  printed  copy  of  the  Code  of  Conduct  and  the  Corporate  Governance  Guidelines  is  also  available  to  the  public  at  no  charge  by  writing  to  Cerner
Corporation, Attn. Human Resources, 2800 Rockcreek Parkway, North Kansas City, Missouri, 64117, or calling the Company’s headquarters at (816)
221-1024.

Item 11. Executive Compensation

The Registrant's Proxy Statement to be used in connection with the Annual Meeting of Shareholders to be held on May 28, 2004, will contain under the
caption "Executive Compensation" the information required by Item 11 of Form 10-K and such information is incorporated herein by this reference.

50

Item 12. Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management 

The Registrant's Proxy Statement to be used in connection with the Annual Meeting of Shareholders to be held on May 28, 2004, will contain under the
caption  "Voting  Securities  and  Principal  Holders  Thereof"  the  information  required  by  Item  12  of  Form  10-K  and  such  information  is  incorporated 
herein by this reference.

Item 13. Certain Relationships and Related Transactions

The Registrant's Proxy Statement to be used in connection with the Annual Meeting of Shareholders to be held on May 28, 2004, will contain under the
caption "Certain Transactions" the information required by Item 13 of Form 10-K and such information is incorporated herein by this reference.

Item 14. Principal Accountant Fees and Services

The Registrant’s Proxy Statement to be used in connection with the Annual Meeting of Shareholders to be held on May 28, 2004, will contain under the
caption "Audit and Non-Audit Fees" the information required by Item 14 of Form 10-K and such information is incorporated herein by this reference.

PART IV 
Item 15. Exhibits, Financial Statement Schedules, and Reports on Form 8-K

(a) Financial Statements and Exhibits.

(1) Consolidated Financial Statements:

Independent Auditors’ Report on Consolidated Financial Statements

Consolidated Balance Sheets -
January 3, 2004 and December 28, 2002

Consolidated Statements of Operations -
Years Ended January 3, 2004, December 28, 2002 and December 29, 2001

Consolidated Statements of Changes In Equity
Years Ended January 3, 2004, December 28, 2002 and December 29, 2001

Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows
Years Ended January 3, 2004, December 28, 2002 and December 29, 2001

Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements

(2) The following financial statement schedule and independent auditors’ report on financial statement schedule of the Registrant for the 

three-year period ended January 3, 2004 are included herein:

Schedule II - Valuation and Qualifying Accounts

Independent Auditors’ Report on Consolidated
Financial Statement Schedule.

All other schedules are omitted, as the required information is inapplicable or the information is presented in the consolidated financial 
statements or related notes.

(3) The exhibits required to be filed by this item are set forth below:

Number

Description

3(a)

3(b)

4(a)

4(b)

Second Restated Certificate of Incorporation of the Registrant, dated December 5, 2003.

Amended and Restated Bylaws, dated March 9, 2001, (filed as Exhibit 4.2 to Registrant’s Form S-8 filed on September 26, 2001 and
incorporated herein by reference).

Amended and Restated Rights Agreement, dated as of March 12, 1999, between Cerner Corporation and UMB Bank, n.a., as Rights
Agents, which includes the Form of Certificate of Designation, Preferences and Rights of Series A Preferred Stock of Cerner Corporation,
as Exhibit A, and the Form of Rights Certificate, as Exhibit B (filed as an Exhibit to Registrant’s current report on Form 8-A/A dated March
31, 1999 and incorporated herein by reference).

Specimen stock certificate (filed as Exhibit 4(a) to Registrant's Registration Statement on Form S-8 (File No. 33-15156) and hereby 
incorporated herein by reference).

51

4(c)

4(d)

4(e)

10(a)

10(b)

10(c)

10(d)

10(e)

10(f)

10(g)

10(h)

10(j)

10(k)

10(l)

Credit Agreement between Cerner Corporation and U.S. Bank National Association as administrative agent and head arranger, and
LaSalle Bank National Association, as document agent, dated as of May 31, 2002 (filed as Exhibit 4(a) to Registrant’s Quarterly Report on
Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 29, 2002, and incorporated herein by reference). 

First Amendment to Credit Agreement between Cerner Corporation and U.S. Bank National Association as administrative agent and head
arranger, and LaSalle Bank National Association, as documentation agent, dated as of July 22, 2002 (filed as Exhibit 4(d) to Registrant’s
Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 28, 2002, and incorporated herein by reference).

Cerner Corporation Note Agreement dated as of April 1, 1999 among Cerner Corporation, Principal Life Insurance Company, Principal Life
Insurance Company, on behalf of one or more separate accounts, Commercial Union Life Insurance Company of America, Nippon Life
Insurance Company of America, John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Company, John Hancock Variable Life Insurance Company, and
Investors Partner Life Insurance Company (filed as Exhibit 4(e) to Registrant’s Form 8-K dated April 23, 1999, and incorporated herein 
by reference).

Incentive Stock Option Plan C of Registrant (filed as Exhibit 10(f) to Registrant’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended
December 31, 1993, and incorporated herein by reference).*

Indemnification Agreements between the Registrant and Neal L. Patterson, Clifford W. Illig, Gerald E. Bisbee, Jr., Ph.D. and Thomas C.
Tinstman, M.D., (filed as Exhibit 10(i) to Registrant’s Annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 1992, and 
incorporated herein by reference).*

Indemnification Agreement between Michael E. Herman and Registrant (filed as Exhibit 10(i)(a) to Registrant’s Quarterly Report on Form
10-Q for the year ended June 29, 1996 and incorporated herein by reference).*

Indemnification Agreement between John C. Danforth, and Registrant (filed as Exhibit 10(i)(b) to Registrant’s Quarterly Report on Form
10-Q for the year ended June 29, 1996 and incorporated herein by reference).*

Indemnification Agreement between Jeff C. Goldsmith, Ph.D. and Registrant (filed as Exhibit 10(e) to Registrant's Annual Report on Form
10-K for the year ended January 1, 2000, and incorporated herein by reference).*

Indemnification Agreement between William B. Neaves, Ph.D. and Nancy-Ann DeParle and Registrant (filed as Exhibits 10.1 and 10.2 to
Registrant’s Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 29, 2001 and incorporated herein by reference).*

Amended Stock Option Plan D of Registrant as of December 8, 2000 (filed as Exhibit 10(f) to Registrant’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for
the year ended December 30, 2000, and incorporated herein by reference).*

Amended Stock Option Plan E of Registrant as of December 8, 2000 (filed as Exhibit 10(g) to Registrant’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for
the year ended December 30, 2000, and incorporated herein by reference).*

Long-Term Incentive Plan for 1999 (filed as Exhibit 10(l) to Registrant's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended January 2, 1999,
and incorporated herein by reference).*

Promissory Note of Jack A. Newman, Jr. (filed as Exhibit 10(m) to Registrant’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended January 2,
1999, and incorporated herein by reference).*

Promissory Notes of Earl H. Devanny, III (filed as Exhibit 10(l) to Registrant's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended January 1,
2000, and incorporated herein by reference).*

10(m)

Cerner Corporation Executive Stock Purchase Plan (filed as Exhibit 4(g) to Registrant’s Registration Statement on Form S-8 
(File No. 333-77029) and incorporated herein by reference).*

10(n)

10(o)

10(p)

10(q)

10(r)

10(s)

10(t)

Form of Stock Pledge Agreement for Cerner Corporation Executive Stock Purchase Plan (filed as Exhibit 4(h) to Registrant’s Registration
Statement on Form S-8 (File No. 333-77029) and incorporated herein by reference).*

Form of Promissory Note for Cerner Corporation Executive Stock Purchase Plan (filed as Exhibit 4(i) to Registrant’s Registration Statement
on Form S-8 (File No. 333-77029) and incorporated herein by reference).*

Employment Agreement of Earl H. Devanny, III (filed as Exhibit 10(q) to Registrant's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended
January 1, 2000, and incorporated herein by reference).*

Employment Agreement of Glenn P. Tobin, Ph.D. (filed as Exhibit 10(r) to Registrant's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended
January 1, 2000, and incorporated herein by reference).*

Amended Employment Agreement of Glenn P. Tobin, Ph.D., dated October 1, 2003.*

Employment Agreement of Stanley M. Sword (filed as Exhibit 10(s) to Registrant's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended
January 1, 2000, and incorporated herein by reference).*

Employment Agreement of Jack A. Newman, Jr. (filed as Exhibit 10(s) to Registrant’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended
December 30, 2000, and incorporated herein by reference).*

52

10(u)

10(v)

10(w)

10(x)

10(y)

Cerner Corporation 2001 Long-Term Incentive Plan F (filed as Annex I to Registrant's 2001 Proxy Statement and incorporated herein 
by reference).*

Cerner Corporation 2001 Associate Stock Purchase Plan (filed as Annex II Registrant's 2001 Proxy Statement and incorporated herein 
by reference).*

Qualified Performance-Based Compensation Plan (filed as Exhibit 10(v) to Registrant’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended
December 30, 2000, and incorporated herein by reference).*

Note Purchase Agreement between Cerner Corporation and the purchasers therein, dated December 15, 2002 (filed as Exhibit 10(x) to
Registrant’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 28, 2002, and incorporated herein by reference).

Cerner Corporation Executive Deferred Compensation Plan (filed as Exhibit 10(y) to Registrant’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year
ended December 28, 2002, and incorporated herein by reference).

10(z)

Cerner Corporation Enhanced Severance Pay Plan and Summary Plan Description dated October 14, 2003.

11

21

23

31.1

31.2

32.1

32.2

Computation of Registrant's Earnings Per Share. (Exhibit omitted. Information contained in notes to consolidated financial statements.)

Subsidiaries of Registrant.

Consent of Independent Auditors.

Certification of Neal L. Patterson, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, pursuant to Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act
of 2002.

Certification of Marc G. Naughton, Chief Financial Officer, pursuant to Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.

Certification pursuant to 18 U.S.C. Section. 1350, as adopted pursuant to Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.

Certification pursuant to 18 U.S.C. Section. 1350, as adopted pursuant to Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.

*

Management contracts or compensatory plans or arrangements required to be identified by Item 15(a)(3)(b)

(b) Reports on Form 8-K.

Report on Form 8-K filed with respect to Item 9 on October 8, 2003, which contained the text of the Press Release issued that same date 
by Atos Origin (formerly) SchlumbergerSema regarding its selection for the Electronic Booking Service Contract with Department of Health in
Partnership with Cerner Corporation.

Report on Form 8-K filed with respect to Item 9 on October 15, 2003, which contained the text of the Press Release issued that same date
announcing earnings for the third quarter of 2003.

Report on Form 8-K filed with respect to Item 9 on December 8, 2003, which contained the text of the Press Release issued that same date
titled: "Cerner Amplifies on Announcement by NHS National Programme for IT."

Report on Form 8-K filed with respect to Item 9 on December 24, 2003, which contained the text of the Press Release issued on December
23, 2003, titled: "Statement by Cerner Corp. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Neal Patterson Regarding the NHS National Programme 
for IT."

Report on Form 8-K filed with respect to Item 9 on January 4, 2004, which contained the text of the Press Release issued that same date
announcing earnings for the year ended January 3, 2004.

(c) Exhibits.

The response to this portion of Item 15 is submitted as a separate section of this report. 

(d) Financial Statement Schedules.

The response to this portion of Item 15 is submitted as a separate section of this report. 

53

SIGNATURES

Pursuant to the requirements of Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on
its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized.

Dated: March 17, 2004

CERNER CORPORATION

By:_/s/ Neal L. Patterson___________
Neal L. Patterson
Chairman of the Board and
Chief Executive Officer 

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, this report has been signed below by the following persons on behalf of the 
registrant and in the capacities and on the dates indicated:

Signature and Title

Date

/s/Neal L. Patterson

Neal L. Patterson, Chairman of the Board and
Chief Executive Officer (Principal Executive Officer) 

/s/Clifford W. Illig

Clifford W. Illig, Vice Chairman and Director

March 17, 2004

March 17, 2004

/s/Marc G. Naughton

March 17, 2004

Marc G. Naughton, Senior Vice President and
Chief Financial Officer (Principal Financial and Accounting Officer)

/s/Michael E. Herman
Michael E. Herman, Director

/s/Gerald E. Bisbee

Gerald E. Bisbee, Jr., Ph.D., Director

/s/John C. Danforth
John C. Danforth, Director

/s/ Jeff C. Goldsmith

Jeff C. Goldsmith, Ph.D., Director

/s/ William B. Neaves

William B. Neaves, Ph.D., Director

/s/Nancy-Ann DeParle
Nancy-Ann DeParle, Director

March 17, 2004

March 17, 2004

March 17, 2004

March 17, 2004

March 17, 2004

March 17, 2004

54

Independent Auditors' Report

The Board of Directors and Stockholders

Cerner Corporation:

We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheets of Cerner Corporation and subsidiaries as of January 3, 2004 and December 28, 2002,
and the related consolidated statements of operations, changes in equity, and cash flows for each of the years in the three-year period ended January
3, 2004. These consolidated financial statements are the responsibility of the Company's management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on
these consolidated financial statements based on our audits.

We conducted our audits in accordance with auditing standards generally accepted in the United States of America. Those standards require that we
plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement. An audit includes
examining,  on  a  test  basis,  evidence  supporting  the  amounts  and  disclosures  in  the  financial  statements.  An  audit  also  includes  assessing  the 
accounting  principles  used  and  significant  estimates  made  by  management,  as  well  as  evaluating  the  overall  financial  statement  presentation.  We
believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.

In our opinion, the consolidated financial statements referred to above present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of Cerner Corporation
and subsidiaries as of January 3, 2004 and December 28, 2002, and the results of their operations and their cash flows for each of the years in the
three-year period ended January 3, 2004, in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.

As discussed in Note 1 to the consolidated financial statements, the Company adopted Statement of Financial Accounting Standard (SFAS) No. 142,
"Goodwill and Other Intangible Assets" on December 30, 2001.

KPMG LLP

Kansas City, Missouri
February 3, 2004

Management's Report

The management of Cerner Corporation is responsible for the consolidated financial statements and all other information presented in this report. The
financial statements have been prepared in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America appropriate to the
circumstances, and, therefore, included in the financial statements are certain amounts based on management's informed estimates and judgments.
Other financial information in this report is consistent with that in the consolidated financial statements. The consolidated financial statements have
been audited by Cerner Corporation's independent certified public accountants and have been reviewed by the audit committee of the Board of Directors.

55

Consolidated Balance Sheets
January 3, 2004 and December 28, 2002

(In thousands except shares and per share data)
Assets

Current Assets:
Cash and cash equivalents
Receivables
Inventory
Prepaid expenses and other

Total current assets

Property and equipment, net
Software development costs, net
Goodwill, net
Intangible assets, net
Investments
Other assets

Liabilities and Stockholders' Equity

Current Liabilities:
Accounts payable
Current installments of long-term debt
Deferred revenue
Deferred Income taxes
Accrued payroll and tax withholdings
Other accrued expenses

Total current liabilities

Long-term debt, net
Deferred income taxes
Deferred revenue

Minority owners’ equity interest in subsidiary

Stockholders' Equity:
Common stock, $.01 par value,150,000,000 shares authorized,
37,057,364 and 36,732,532 shares issued in 2003 and
2002, respectively 
Additional paid-in capital
Retained earnings 
Treasury stock, at cost (1,502,999 and 1,202,999 shares in 2003 and 

2002, respectively)

Accumulated other comprehensive income:
Foreign currency translation adjustment
Unrealized loss on available-for-sale equity securities

(net of deferred tax asset of $23 in 2002) 

Total stockholders' equity

Commitments (Note 13)

See notes to consolidated financial statements.

56

2003

2002

121,839
256,574
12,434
38,132

428,979

204,953
141,090
51,573
24,036
692
8,017

859,340

20,753
21,162
64,879
15,586
45,004
10,095

177,479

124,570
59,500
1,945

1,166

371
236,969
279,363

142,543
272,668
9,041
33,296

457,548

134,283
117,327
45,938
23,155
964
9,926

789,141

46,822
12,202
45,055
14,553
47,262
9,519

175,413

136,636
35,848
-

-

367
226,912
236,572

(26,793)

(20,863)

4,770

-

494,680

859,340

(1,668)

(76)

441,244

789,141

$

$

$

$

Consolidated Statements of Operations
For the years ended January 3, 2004, December 28, 2002 and December 29, 2001

(In thousands, except per share data)
Revenues

System sales
Support, maintenance and services
Reimbursed travel

Total revenues

Costs and expenses

Cost of revenues
Sales and client service
Software development
General and administrative

Total costs and expenses

Operating earnings 

Other income (expense):

Interest expense, net
Other income, net
Gain (loss) on sale of investments
Impairment of investments
Gain on software license settlement
Total other expense, net

Earnings (loss) before income taxes and cumulative effect of 

a change in accounting principle

Income taxes 

Earnings (loss) before cumulative effect of a change in 

accounting principle

Cumulative effect of a change in accounting for goodwill,

net of $486 income tax benefit

Net earnings (loss)

Basic earnings (loss) per share before cumulative effect of a 

change in accounting principle

Cumulative effect of a change in accounting for goodwill
Basic net earnings (loss) per share 

Diluted earnings (loss) per share before cumulative effect of a 

change in accounting principle

Cumulative effect of a change in accounting principle
Diluted net earnings (loss) per common share 

See notes to consolidated financial statements.

$

$

$

$

$

$

57

2003

2002

2001

332,349
476,795
30,443

839,587

194,290
352,728
156,236
58,236

761,490

78,097

(7,017)
142
-
-
-
(6,875)

71,222
(28,431)

332,274
419,578
28,410

780,262

190,550
319,265
129,620
50,007

689,442

90,820

(5,555)
87
5,177
(9,904)
-
(10,195)

80,625
(31,817)

244,979
297,444
18,379

560,802

133,985
226,776
100,186
38,505

499,452

61,350

(4,425)
182
(385)
(127,616)
7,580
(124,664)

(63,314)
20,948

42,791

48,808

(42,366)

-

(786)

-

42,791

48,022

(42,366)

1.21
-
1.21

1.18
-
1.18

1.38
(0.02)
1.36

1.32
(0.02)
1.30

(1.21)
-
(1.21)

(1.21)
-
(1.21)

Consolidated Statements of Changes in Equity
For the years ended January 3, 2004, December 28, 2002, and December 29, 2001

(In thousands)

Common  Additional

Shares

Stock
Amount

paid-in
capital

Retained
Earnings

Treasury
stock
amount

Accumulated
Other

Comprehensive Comprehensive

Income

Income

Balance at December 30, 2000 

35,968

$ 360

192,715

230,916

(20,799)

(59,475)

235
Exercise of options
362
Acquisition of business
Non-employee stock option compensation expense
-
Tax benefit from disqualifying disposition of stock options -
-
Associate stock purchase plan discounts
-
Foreign currency translation adjustment
Unrealized gain on available-for-sale equity 

securities, net of deferred tax expense of $6,810

Reclassification adjustment for losses recognized
in net loss, net of deferred taxes of $33,036

Net loss
Comprehensive income

-

-
-

2
4
-
-
-
-

-

-
-

4,065
17,667
215
2,328
(179)
-

-

-
-

-
-
-
-
-
-

-

-
(42,366)

-
-
-
-
-
-

-

-
-

-
-
-
-
-
(1,352)

(1,352)

12,006

12,006

58,732
-

58,732
(42,366)
27,020

Balance at December 29, 2001

36,565

$ 366

216,811

188,550

(20,799)

9,911

168
Exercise of options
Non-employee stock option compensation expense
-
Tax benefit from disqualifying disposition of stock options -
-
Associate stock purchase plan discounts
-
Third party warrants
Foreign currency translation adjustment
-
Unrealized gain on available-for-sale equity 
securities, net of deferred benefit of $14
Reclassification adjustment for gains recognized

-

in net earnings, net of deferred taxes of $6,810

Net earnings
Comprehensive income

-
-

1
-
-
-
-
-

-

-
-

3,259
90
1,561
(609)
5,800
-

-

-
-

-
-
-
-
-
-

-

-
48,022

(64)
-
-
-
-
-

-

-
-

-
-
-
-
-
427

(76)

(12,006)
-

Balance at December 28, 2002

36,733

$ 367

226,912

236,572

(20,863)

(1,744)

324
Exercise of options
-
Purchase of treasury shares
Non-employee stock option compensation expense
-
Tax benefit from disqualifying disposition of stock options -
-
Associate stock purchase plan discounts
-
Third party warrants
Foreign currency translation adjustment
-
Unrealized gain on available-for-sale equity

securities, net of deferred tax expense of $14

Net earnings
Comprehensive income

-
-

4
-
-
-
-
-
-

-
-

6,699
-
34
1,876
(604)
2,052
-

-
-
-
-
-
-
-

-
-

-
42,791

-
(5,930)
-
-
-
-
-

-
-

-
-
-
-
-
-
6,438

76
-

Balance at January 3, 2004

37,057

$ 371

236,969

279,363

(26,793)

4,770

See notes to consolidated financial statements.

427

(76)

(12,006)
48,022
36,367

6,438

76
42,791
49,305

58

Consolidated Statements of Cash Flow
For the years ended January 3, 2004, December 28, 2002, December 29, 2001

(In thousands)
CASH FLOWS FROM OPERATING ACTIVITIES
Net earnings (loss)
Adjustments to reconcile net earnings (loss) to 
net cash provided by operating activities:

Depreciation and amortization
Common stock received as consideration for sale of license software
Impairments of investments
Gain on software license settlement
Realized (gain) loss on sale of stock
Impairment of goodwill
Non-employee stock option compensation expense 
Equity in losses of affiliates
Provision for deferred income taxes
Payment of tax on gain from the sale of WebMD
Tax benefit from disqualifying dispositions of stock options

Changes in operating assets and liabilities (net of businesses acquired):

Receivables, net
Inventory
Prepaid expenses and other
Accounts payable
Accrued income taxes
Deferred revenue
Other current liabilities

Total adjustments
Net cash provided by operating activities
CASH FLOWS FROM INVESTING ACTIVITIES

Purchase of capital equipment
Purchase of land, buildings, and improvements
Acquisition of businesses, net of cash received
Investments in affiliates
Proceeds from sale of available for sale securities
Issuance of notes receivable
Repayment of notes receivable
Capitalized software development costs

Net cash used in investing activities
CASH FLOWS FROM FINANCING ACTIVITIES

Proceeds from issuance of long-term debt
Repayment of long-term debt
Proceeds from third party warrants
Purchase of treasury shares
Proceeds from exercise of options
Associate stock purchase plan discounts
Net cash provided by (used in) financing activities
Foreign currency translation adjustment
Increase in cash from the consolidation of a variable interest entity
Net increase (decrease) in cash and cash equivalents
Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of year
Cash and cash equivalents at end of year
Supplemental disclosures of cash flow information
Cash paid during the year for:

Interest
Income taxes, net of refund
Noncash investing and financing activities

Issuance of common stock for acquisition of business
Acquisition of equipment through capital leases

See notes to consolidated financial statements.

$

$

59

2003

$

42,791

69,330
-
-
-
-
-
34
-
24,686
-
1,876

20,723
(3,393)
(201)
(30,663)
(8,556)
22,561
(5,038)
91,359
134,150

(26,831)
(56,752)
(6,380)
-
-
-
651
(58,736)
(148,048)

320
(13,238)
2,052
(5,930)
6,703
(604)
(10,697)
3,740
151
(20,704)
142,543
121,839

7,984
10,426

-
9,811

2002

48,022

57,346
-
9,904
-
(5,177)
1,272
90
-
8,710
(31,200)
1,561

(50,364)
(2,762)
(13,302)
20,648
1,791
(12,203)
2,570
(11,116)
36,906

(33,235)
(26,464)
(26,016)
-
95,134
(156)
451
(49,984)
(40,270)

70,102
(41,032)
5,800
-
3,196
(609)
37,457
914
-
35,007
107,536
142,543

6,937
49,484

-
-

2001

(42,366)

47,305
(750)
127,616
(7,580)
385
-
215
1,525
(43,199)
-
2,328

(26,389)
(3,252)
(8,216)
(4,572)
10,207   
(2,164)
13,745
107,204
64,838

(17,654)
(8,068)
(4,045)
(1,664)
1,572
(205)
707
(37,828)
(67,185)

18,088
(1,634)
-
-
4,067
(179)
20,342
(1,352)
-
16,643
90,893
107,536

7,341
9,535

17,671
-

1 Summary of Significant Accounting Policies

(a) Principles of Consolidation - The consolidated financial statements include the accounts of Cerner Corporation and its wholly-owned subsidiaries
(the Company). All significant intercompany transactions and balances have been eliminated in consolidation.

(b) Nature  of  Operations  - The  Company  designs,  develops,  markets,  installs,  hosts  and  supports  software  information  technology  and 
content  solutions  for  healthcare  organizations  and  consumers.  The  Company  also  implements  these  solutions  as  individual,  combined  or 
enterprise-wide systems

(c) Revenue Recognition - Revenues are derived primarily from the sale of clinical, financial and administrative information systems and solutions.
The  components  of  the  system  sales  revenues  are  the  licensing  of  computer  software,  installation,  subscription  content  and  the  sale  of  computer 
hardware and sublicensed software. The components of support, maintenance and service revenues are software support and hardware maintenance,
remote hosting and outsourcing, training, consulting and implementation services.

The  Company  recognizes  revenue  in  accordance  with  the  provisions  of  Statement  of  Position  (SOP)  No.  97-2,  "Software  Revenue  Recognition,"  as
amended by SOP No. 98-4, SOP 98-9 and clarified by Staff Accounting Bulletin’s (SAB) 101 "Revenue Recognition in Financial Statements." and SAB
No.  104  "Revenue  Recognition"  and  Emerging  Issues  Task  Force  00-21  "Accounting  for  Revenue  Arrangements  with  Multiple  Deliverables" 
("EITF 00-21"). SOP No 97-2, as amended, generally requires revenue earned on software arrangements involving multiple-elements to be allocated to
each  element  based  on  the  relative  fair  values  of  those  elements.  Revenue  from  multiple-element  software  arrangements  is  recognized  using  the 
residual method. Under the residual method, revenue is recognized in a multiple-element arrangement when Company-specific objective evidence of
fair value exists for all of the undelivered elements in the arrangement (i.e. professional services, software support, hardware maintenance, hardware
and sublicensed software), but does not exist for one or more of the delivered elements in the arrangement (i.e. software solutions). The Company 
allocates revenue to each element in a multiple-element arrangement based on the element’s respective fair value, with the fair value determined by
the price charged when that element is sold separately. Specifically, the Company determines the fair value of the software support and maintenance
portion of the arrangement based on the renewal price of the software support and maintenance charged to clients; professional services portion of the
arrangement, other than installation services, based on hourly rates which the Company charges for these services when sold apart from a software
license;  and,  the  hardware  and  sublicensed  software,  based  on  the  prices  for  these  elements  when  they  are  sold  separately  from  the  software.  If 
evidence  of  the  fair  value  cannot  be  established  for  the  undelivered  elements  of  a  license  agreement,  the  entire  amount  of  revenue  under  the 
arrangement is deferred until these elements have been delivered or objective evidence can be established. 

Inherent  in  the  revenue  recognition  process  are  significant  management  estimates  and  judgments,  which  influence  the  timing  and  the  amount  of 
revenue recognition. The Company provides several models for the procurement of its clinical, financial and administrative information systems. The
predominant  method  is  a  perpetual  software  license  agreement,  project-related  installation  services,  implementation  and  consulting  services, 
computer  hardware  and  sublicensed  software  and  software  support.  For  those  arrangements  involving  the  use  of  services,  the  Company  uses  the 
percentage  of  completion  method  of  accounting,  following  the  guidance  in  the  AICPA  Statement  of  Position  No.  81-1  (SOP  81-1),  Accounting  for
Performance of Construction-Type and Certain Production-Type Contracts, as prescribed by 97-2. 

The Company provides installation services, which include project-scoping services, conducting pre-installation audits and creating initial environments.
Because  installation  services  are  deemed  to  be  essential  to  the  functionality  of  the  software,  software  license  and  installation  services  fees  are 
recognized over the software installation period using output measures which reflect direct labor hours incurred, beginning at software delivery and 
culminating at completion of installation, typically a three-to-nine month process. 

The Company also provides implementation and consulting services, which include consulting activities that fall outside of the scope of the standard
installation  services.  These  services  vary  depending  on  the  scope  and  complexity  requested  by  the  client.  Examples  of  such  services  may  include 
additional  database  consulting,  system  configuration,  project  management,  testing  assistance,  network  consulting  and  post  conversion  review 
services. Implementation and consulting services generally are not deemed to be essential to the functionality of the software, and thus do not impact
the timing of the software license recognition, unless software license fees are tied to implementation milestones. In those instances, the portion of the
software license fee tied to implementation milestones is deferred until the related milestone is accomplished and related fees become billable and 
non-forfeitable. Implementation fees are recognized over the service period, which may extend from nine months to three years.

Remote hosting and outsourcing services are marketed under long-term arrangements generally over periods of five to 10 years. Revenues from these
arrangements are recognized as the services are performed.

Software support fees are marketed under annual and multi-year arrangements and are recognized as revenue ratably over the contracted support term.
Hardware maintenance revenues are billed and recognized monthly over the contracted maintenance term.

Subscription and content fees are generally marketed under annual and multi-year agreements and are recognized ratably over the contracted terms.

Hardware and sublicensed software sales are generally recognized when title passes to the client.

The  Company  also  offers  its  solutions  on  an  application  service  provider  ("ASP")  or  a  term  license  basis,  making  available  Company  software 
functionality on a remote processing basis from the Company’s data centers. The data centers provide system and administrative support as well as
processing services. Revenue on software and services provided on an ASP or term license basis is recognized on a monthly basis over the term of the

60

contract. The Company capitalizes related direct costs consisting of third-party costs and direct software installation and implementation costs. These
costs are amortized over the term of the arrangement.

Where the Company has contractually agreed to develop new or customized software code for a client as a single element arrangement, the Company
utilizes percentage of completion accounting in accordance with SOP 81-1. If a contract includes multiple elements, including one or more undelivered
element, or if the agreement includes contingent revenue (as defined in EITF 00-21), the Company complies with the conclusions of EITF 00-21 and
delays  revenue  recognition  until  undelivered  elements  are  delivered  and  revenue  contingencies  expire.  When  revenue  is  deferred  all  direct  and 
incremental costs associated with the arrangement are capitalized and amortized over the contractual term once revenue recognition commences. 

Deferred revenue is comprised of deferrals for license fees, support, maintenance and other services for which payment has been received and for
which  the  service  has  not  yet  been  performed.  Long-term  deferred  revenue,  at  January  3,  2004,  represents  amounts  received  from  license  fees, 
maintenance and other services to be earned or provided beginning in periods on or after January 2, 2005. 

The  Company  incurs  out-of-pocket  expenses  in  connection  with  its  client  service  activities,  which  are  reimbursed  by  its  clients.  The  amounts  of 
"out-of-pocket"  expenses  and  equal  amounts  of  related  reimbursements  were  $30,443,000,  $28,410,000,  and  $18,379,000  for  the  years  ended
January 3, 2004, December 28, 2002, and December 29, 2001, respectively. 

The Company’s arrangements with clients typically include a deposit due upon contract signing and date-based licensed software payment terms and
payments based upon delivery for services, hardware and sublicensed software. The Company has periodically provided long-term financing options to
creditworthy clients through third party financing institutions and has on occasion directly provided extended payment terms from contract date. Certain
of  these  receivables  have  been  assigned  on  a  non-recourse  basis  to  third  party  financing  institutions.  The  Company  accounts  for  the 
assignment of these receivables as "true sales" as defined in FASB Statement No. 140, Accounting for Transfers and Servicing of Financial Assets and
Extinguishments of Liabilities. Provided all other revenue recognition criteria have been met, the Company recognizes revenue for these arrangements
under its normal revenue recognition criteria, net of any payment discounts from financing transactions. 

The terms of the Company’s software license agreements with its clients generally provide for a limited indemnification of such intellectual property
against losses, expenses and liabilities arising from third-party claims based on alleged infringement by the Company’s solutions of an intellectual 
property right of such third party. The terms of such indemnification often limit the scope of and remedies for such indemnification obligations and 
generally include a right to replace or modify an infringing solution. To date, the Company has not had to reimburse any of its clients for any losses
related to these indemnification provisions pertaining to third-party intellectual property infringement claims. For several reasons, including the lack of
prior indemnification claims and the lack of a monetary liability limit for certain infringement cases under the terms of the corresponding agreements
with its clients, the Company cannot determine the maximum amount of potential future payments, if any, related to such indemnification provisions.

(d) Fiscal Year - The Company’s fiscal year ends on the Saturday closest to December 31. Fiscal year 2003 consisted of 53 weeks and fiscal years
2002 and 2001 consisted of 52 weeks each. All references to years in these notes to consolidated financial statements represent fiscal years unless
otherwise noted.

(e) Software Development Costs - Costs incurred internally in creating computer software products are expensed until technological feasibility has
been  established  upon  completion  of  a  detailed  program  design.  Thereafter,  all  software  development  costs  are  capitalized  and  subsequently 
reported at the lower of amortized cost or net realizable value. Capitalized costs are amortized based on current and expected future revenue for each
product with minimum annual amortization equal to the straight-line amortization over the estimated economic life of the product. The Company is
amortizing  capitalized  costs  over  five  years.  During  2003,  2002  and  2001,  the  Company  capitalized  $58,736,000,  $49,984,000  and  $37,828,000,
respectively,  of  total  software  development  costs  of  $179,999,000,  $149,985,000  and  $113,872,000,  respectively.  Amortization  expense  of 
capitalized software development costs in 2003, 2002 and 2001, was $34,973,000, $29,619,000 and $24,142,000, respectively, and accumulated
amortization was $165,145,000, $130,172,000 and $100,553,000, respectively.

The  Company  expects  that  major  software  information  systems  companies,  large  information  technology  consulting  service  providers  and  systems 
integrators, internet-based start-up companies and others specializing in the healthcare industry may offer competitive products or services. The pace
of  change  in  the  healthcare  information  systems  market  is  rapid  and  there  are  frequent  new  product  introductions,  product  enhancements  and 
evolving  industry  standards  and  requirements.  As  a  result,  the  capitalized  software  may  become  less  valuable  or  obsolete  and  could  be  subject 
to impairment.

(f)

Cash Equivalents – Cash equivalents consist of short-term marketable securities with original maturities less than ninety days.

(g)
Investments – The Company accounts for its investments in equity securities, which have readily determinable fair values as available-for-sale.
Available-for-sale securities are reported at fair value with unrealized gains and losses reported, net of tax, as a separate component of accumulated
other comprehensive income. For realized gains and losses on available-for-sale investments, the Company utilizes the specific identification method
as  the  basis  to  determine  cost.  Investments  in  the  common  stock  of  certain  affiliates  over  which  the  Company  exerts  significant  influence  are 
accounted for by the equity method. 

The Company also has certain other minority equity investments in non-publicly traded securities. These investments are generally carried at cost as
the  Company  owns  less  than  20%  of  the  voting  equity  and  does  not  have  the  ability  to  exercise  significant  influence  over  these  companies.  The 
carrying value of these investments at January 3, 2004 and December 28, 2002 was $680,000 and $876,000, respectively. These investments are

61

inherently high risk as the market for technologies and content by these companies are usually early stage at the time of the investment by the Company
and  such  markets  may  never  be  significant.  The  Company  could  lose  its  entire  investment  in  certain  or  all  of  these  companies.  The  Company 
monitors these investments for impairment and makes appropriate reductions in carrying values when necessary. 

The Company reviews all equity securities for declines in fair value. If such declines are considered to be other than temporary, the cost basis of the
individual security is written down to fair value as a new cost basis, and the amount of the write-down is included in earnings.

Inventory - Inventory consists primarily of computer hardware and sub-licensed software held for resale and is recorded at the lower of cost 

(h)
(first-in, first-out) or market.

(i)
Property  and  Equipment  -  Property,  equipment  and  leasehold  improvements  are  stated  at  cost.  Depreciation  of  property  and  equipment  is 
computed  using  the  straight-line  method  over  periods  of  5  to  39  years.  Amortization  of  leasehold  improvements  is  computed  using  a  straight-line
method over the lease terms, which range from periods of two to twelve years.

(j)
Earnings  per  Common  Share  – Basic  earnings  per  share  (EPS)  excludes  dilution  and  is  computed  by  dividing  income  available  to  common 
stockholders by the weighted-average number of common shares outstanding for the period. Diluted EPS reflects the potential dilution that could occur
if securities or other contracts to issue stock were exercised or converted into common stock or resulted in the issuance of common stock that then
shared in the earnings of the Company. A reconciliation of the numerators and the denominators of the basic and diluted per-share computations is 
as follows:

(In thousands, except per share data)

2003
Per-Share
Shares
(Numerator) (Denominator) Amount

Earnings

2002
Per-Share
Shares
(Numerator) (Denominator) Amount

Earnings

2001
Per-Share
Shares
(Numerator) (Denominator) Amount

Earnings

Earnings (loss) per share before 
cumulative effect of a change in
accounting principle

Basic earnings (loss) per share
Income available to

common stockholders

$ 42,791

35,355

$ 1.21

$ 48,808

35,458

$ 1.38

$ `(42,366)

34,907

$ (1.21)

Effect of dilutive securities
Stock options

-

1,001

-

1,592

-

-

Diluted earnings (loss) per share
Income available to common
stockholders including
assumed conversions

$ 42,791

Net earnings (loss) per share

Basic earnings (loss) per share
Income available to

36,356

$ 1.18

$ 48,808

37,050

$ 1.32

$ `(42,366)

34,907

$ (1.21) 

common stockholders

$ 42,791

35,355

$ 1.21

$ 48,022

35,458

$ 1.36

$ (42,366)

34,907

$ (1.21)

Effect of dilutive securities
Stock options

-

1,001

-

1,592

-

-

Diluted earnings (loss) per share
Income available to common
stockholders including
assumed conversions

$ 42,791

36,356

$1.18

$ 48,022

37,050

$ 1.30

$ (42,366)

34,907

$ (1.21) 

Options to purchase 3,054,000, 2,390,000 and 299,000 shares of common stock at per share prices ranging from $32.50 to 574.82, $43.13 to $574.82
and  $48.19  to  $574.82,  were  outstanding  at  the  end  of  2003,  2002  and  2001,  respectively,  but  were  not  included  in  the  computation  of  diluted 
earnings per share because the options’ exercise price was greater than the average market price of the common shares for the period. Additionally,
all options were excluded from the 2001 diluted earnings per share computations as the effect of their inclusion would have been anti-dilutive on the
loss per share calculation.

62

(k) Foreign Currency - Assets and liabilities in foreign currencies are translated into dollars at rates prevailing at the balance sheet date. Revenues
and  expenses  are  translated  at  average  rates  for  the  year.  The  net  exchange  differences  resulting  from  these  translations  are  reported  in 
accumulated other comprehensive income. Gains and losses resulting from foreign currency transactions are included in the consolidated statements
of  earnings.  The  net  gain  (loss)  resulting  from  foreign  currency  transactions  was  $1,376,000,  ($1,955,000)  and  $23,813  in  2003,  2002  and 
2001, respectively.

(l)
Income  Taxes  - Deferred  tax  assets  and  liabilities  are  recognized  for  the  future  tax  consequences  attributable  to  differences  between  the 
financial statement carrying amounts of existing assets and liabilities and their respective tax bases. Deferred tax assets and liabilities are measured
using enacted tax rates expected to apply to taxable income in the years in which those temporary differences are expected to be recovered or settled.

(m)
Impairment of Long-Lived Assets - On December 30, 2001, the Company adopted SFAS No. 144 "Accounting for the Impairment or Disposal of
Long-Lived Assets" ("SFAS 144"), which supersedes certain provisions of APB Opinion No. 30 "Reporting the Results of Operations – Reporting the
Effects of Disposal of a Segment of Business, and Extraordinary, Unusual and Infrequently Occurring Events and Transactions" and supercedes SFAS
No. 121 "Accounting for the Impairment of Long-Lived Assets and for Long-Lived Assets to Be Disposed Of." There was not a cumulative transition
adjustment upon adoption. In accordance with SFAS 144, the Company evaluates long-lived assets, including intangible assets other than goodwill, for
impairment whenever events or changing in circumstances indicate that the carrying value of an asset may not be recoverable based on expected 
undiscounted cash flows attributable to that asset. The amount of any impairment is measured as the difference between the carrying value and the
fair value of the impaired asset.

(n) Goodwill and Other Intangible Assets – Effective December 30, 2001, the Company adopted the provisions of Statement of Financial Accounting
Standards  (SFAS)  No.  142,  "Goodwill  and  Other  Intangible  Assets."  As  a  result,  goodwill  and  intangible  assets  with  indefinite  lives  are  no  longer 
amortized but are evaluated for impairment annually or whenever there is an impairment indicator. All goodwill is assigned to a reporting unit, where
it is subject to an impairment test based on fair value. The Company assessed its goodwill for impairment in the second quarter of its fiscal year. The
Company completed its initial transitional assessment of the Company’s goodwill values in the second quarter of 2002. As a result of this review, the
Company determined that goodwill arising from the acquisition of Mitch Cooper and Associates was impaired due to declining demand and margins in
this business. Mitch Cooper and Associates was a supply chain re-engineering consulting practice. The impairment charge to reflect this goodwill at
fair value was $786,000, net of tax, and is reflected as a cumulative effect of a change in accounting principle as of the beginning of 2002. There was
no  impairment  of  goodwill  in  2003.  The  Company  used  a  discounted  cash  flow  analysis  to  determine  the  fair  value  of  the  reporting  units  for  all 
periods tested. The Company’s intangible assets, other than goodwill or intangible assets with indefinite lives, are all subject to amortization and are
summarized as follows:

(In thousands)

January 3, 2004

December 28, 2002

Weighted 
Average
Amortization
Period (Yrs)

Gross Carrying
Amount

Accumulated
Amortization 

Gross Carrying
Amount

Accumulated
Amortization

Purchased software
Customer lists
Patents
Non-compete agreements
Total

5.0
7.0
14.0
7.0
5.32

$

$

36,236
3,700
552
50
40,538

14,683
1,711
86
22
16,502

28,938
3,700
377
50
33,065

8,649
1,183
63
15
9,910

Amortization expense was $6,592,000, $4,482,000 and $2,191,000 for the years ended 2003, 2002 and 2001, respectively.

Estimated aggregate amortization expense for each of the next five years is as follows:

For year ended:

2004
2005
2006
2007
2008

$

7,304
6,754
5,489
3,134
878

63

The changes in the carrying amount of goodwill for the twelve months ended January 3, 2004 are as follows:

Balance as of December 28, 2003
Goodwill acquired during 2003
Foreign currency translation adjustment during 2003
Balance as of January 3, 2004

$

$

45,938
3,080
2,555
51,573

The following is a reconciliation of reported net earnings (loss) to adjusted net earnings (loss) to exclude the effect of amortization expense in the year
ended 2001 for goodwill that is no longer being amortized.

(In thousands, except per share data)

Reported net earnings (loss)
Add back: Goodwill amortization
Adjusted net earnings (loss)

Basic earnings per share:

Reported net earnings (loss)
Add back: Goodwill amortization
Adjusted net earnings (loss)

Diluted earnings per share:

Reported net earnings (loss)
Add back: Goodwill amortization
Adjusted net earnings (loss)

$

$

$

2003

42,791
-
42,791

1.21
-
1.21

1.18
-
1.18

2002

48,022
-
48,022

1.36
-
1.36

1.30
-
1.30

2001

(42,366)
1,758
(40,608)

(1.21)
.05
(1.16)

(1.21)
.05
(1.16)

(o) Use of Estimates - The preparation of financial statements in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of
America  requires  management  to  make  estimates  and  assumptions  that  affect  the  reported  amounts  of  assets  and  liabilities  and  disclosure  of 
contingent  assets  and  liabilities  at  the  date  of  the  financial  statements  and  the  reported  amounts  of  revenues  and  expenses  during  the  reporting 
period. Actual results could differ from those estimates.

(p) Concentrations – Substantially all of the Company’s cash and cash equivalents, short-term investments, are held at three major U.S. financial
institutions. The majority of the Company’s cash equivalents consist of U.S. Government Federal Agency Securities, short-term marketable securities,
and  overnight  repurchase  agreements.  Deposits  held  with  banks  may  exceed  the  amount  of  insurance  provided  on  such  deposits.  Generally  these
deposits may be redeemed upon demand and, therefore, bear minimal risk. 

Substantially all of the Company’s clients are integrated delivery networks, hospitals, and other healthcare related organizations. If significant adverse
macro-economic  factors  were  to  impact  these  organizations  it  could  materially  adversely  affect  the  Company.  The  Company’s  access  to  certain 
software and hardware components is dependent upon single and sole source suppliers. The inability of any supplier to fulfill supply requirements of
the Company could affect future results.

The Company performs ongoing credit evaluations of its clients and generally does not require collateral from its clients. The Company maintains an
allowance  for  potential  losses  on  a  specific  identification  basis  and  based  on  historical  experience  and  management’s  judgments.  The  Company’s
allowance for doubtful accounts as of January 3, 2004 and December 28, 2002 was $12,056,000 and $9,502,000, respectively.

(q) Accounting for Stock Options - The Company applies the intrinsic-value-based method of accounting prescribed by Accounting Principles Board
(APB) Opinion No. 25, "Accounting for Stock Issued to Employees," and related interpretations including FASB Interpretation No. 44, "Accounting for
Certain Transactions involving Stock Compensation, an interpretation of APB Opinion No. 25," issued in March 2000, to account for its fixed–plan stock
options. Under this method, compensation expense is recorded on the date of grant only if the current market price of the underlying stock exceeded
the  exercise  price.  Statement  of  Financial  Accounting  Standards  No.  123,  "Accounting  for  Stock-Based  Compensation,"  established 
accounting and disclosure requirements using a fair-value-based method of accounting for stock-based employee compensation plans. As allowed by
SFAS No. 123, the Company has elected to continue to apply the intrinsic-value-based method of accounting described above, and has adopted only
the disclosure requirements of SFAS No. 123. The following is a reconciliation of reported net earnings (loss) to adjusted net earnings (loss) had the
Company recorded compensation expense based on the fair value at the grant date for its stock options under SFAS 123 for the years ended 2003,
2002 and 2001.

64

(In thousands, except per share data)

Reported net earnings (loss)
Less: stock-based compensation expense determined 

under fair-value-based method for all awards, net of tax

Adjusted net earnings (loss)

Basic earnings per share:

Reported net earnings (loss)
Less: stock-based compensation expense determined

under fair-value-based method for all awards, net of tax

Adjusted net earnings (loss)

Diluted earnings per share:

2003

$

42,791

(13,392)
29,399

$

1.21

(.38)
.83

Reported net earnings (loss)
Less: stock-based compensation expense determined

under fair-value-based method for all awards

Adjusted net earnings (loss)

$

1.18

(.37)
.81

2002

48,022

(16,640)
31,382

1.36

(.47)
.89

1.30

(.45)
.85

2001

(42,366)

(11,172)
(53,538)

(1.21)

(.32)
(1.53)

(1.21)

(.32)
(1.53)

Pro forma net earnings reflect only options granted since January 1, 1995. Therefore, the full impact of calculating compensation expense for stock
options under FAS 123 is not reflected in the pro forma net earnings amounts presented above, because compensation cost is reflected over the options’
vesting period of ten years for these options. Compensation expense for options granted prior to January 1, 1995 is not considered.

(r) Reclassifications – Certain prior year amounts have been reclassified to conform to the current year consolidated financial statement presentation.

(s) Accounting for Variable Interest Entities - On September 27, 2003, the Company adopted Financial Accounting Standards Board Interpretation
No.  46  ("FIN  46"),  "Consolidation  of  Variable  Interest  Entities  an  Interpretation  of  APB  No.  51."  The  Interpretation  provides  guidance  on  the 
identification of entities for which control is achieved through means other than through voting rights ("variable interest entities’" or "VIEs") and how to
determine  when  and  which  business  enterprises  should  consolidate  the  VIE  (the  "primary  beneficiary").  In  addition,  FIN  46  requires  that  both  the 
primary beneficiary and all other enterprises with a significant variable interest in a VIE make additional disclosures.

For the twelve-month period ended January 3, 2004, the Company consolidated the operations of Cerner Arabia Ltd ("Cerner Arabia"). Cerner Arabia is
a software company located in Riyadh. Revenues are derived primarily from the sale of clinical, financial and administrative information systems and
solutions.  The  consolidation  of  Cerner  Arabia  resulted  in  an  increase  to  revenues  of  $580,000  and  net  earnings  of  $10,000  for  the  twelve-month 
period ended January 3, 2004.

65

2 Business Acquisitions

During the three years ended January 3, 2004, the Company completed five acquisitions, which were accounted for under the purchase method of
accounting. Pro forma results of operations have not been presented for any of the acquisitions because the effects of these acquisitions were not 
material to the Company on either an individual or an aggregate basis. The results of operations of each acquisition are included in the Company's 
consolidated statement of operations from the date of each acquisition.

Effective December 30, 2001, the Company adopted the provisions of Statement of Financial Accounting Standards (SFAS) No. 142, "Goodwill and Other
Intangible Assets." As a result, goodwill and intangible assets with indefinite lives are no longer amortized but are evaluated for impairment annually or
whenever there is an impairment indicator. All goodwill is assigned to a reporting unit, where it is subject to an impairment test based on fair value.
Amounts allocated to intangibles are amortized on a straight-line basis over five to seven years. Amounts allocated to software are amortized based on
current  and  expected  future  revenues  for  each  product  with  minimum  annual  amortization  equal  to  the  straight-line  amortization  over  the 
estimated economic life of the product. 

A summary of the Company's significant purchase acquisitions for the three years ended January 3, 2004, is included in the following table (in millions,
except share amounts):

Entity Name, Description
of Business Acquired, and 
Reason Business Acquired

Fiscal 2003 Acquisition

Date

Consideration

Goodwill

Developed 
Technology

Form 
of Consideration

BeyondNow Technologies (a)

9/03

$7.5

$3.0

$3.2

$7.5 cash

Home care technologies
Integrate technology into Cerner Millennium

Fiscal 2002 Acquisitions

Image Devices GmbH (a)

Picture archiving and communication
system software

Supplier of the image archive component 
for Cerner ProVision TM PACS

10/02

$15.7

$11.9

$4.4

$14.3 cash

$1.4 note payable

Zynx Health Incorporated (a) (b)

4/02

$15.0

$10.4

$3.3

$15.0 cash

Solutions and services that deliver the 
latest scientific knowledge and best practices

Integrate technology into Cerner Millennium

Fiscal 2001 Acquisitions

$ 8.5 software credits

Dynamic Healthcare Technologies

12/01

$20.0

$9.2

$7.5

$2.3 cash

Clinical and diagnostic workflow 
for pathology, laboratory and radiology 
Integrate knowledge into Cerner Millennium

$17.7 362,000 
shares of common 
stock issued

APACHE Medical Systems (c)

7/01

$3.6

$5.0

$0.2

$3.6 cash

Clinical decision support /outcomes 
management systems 

Integrate technology into Cerner Millennium

66

(a) The assets and liabilities of the acquired companies at the date of acquisition are as follows: 

Current Assets
Total Assets
Current Liabilities
Total Liabilities

BeyondNow 
Technologies

1,977,000
8,170,000
714,000
714,000

Image Devices GmbH

Zynx Health Incorporated

1,603,000
18,007,000
4,205,000
4,205,000

2,656,000
16,949,000
1,420,000
1,669,000

(b) The Company will not recognize revenues related to the utilization of the $8.5 million in software credits as the Company considered the exchange
of  software  credits  for  Zynx ™ content  as  an  exchange  of  similar  productive  assets,  which  will  be  accounted  for  at  carrying  value.  In  the  event  the 
software credits are not utilized over the next five years, the Company will make additional cash payments of up to $7.5 million depending on the level
of the credits used. These additional payments, if made, will result in additional goodwill. As of January 3, 2004, no cash payments had been made.

(c) The following goodwill amounts are deductible for tax purposes

APACHE Medical Systems

$

5,000,000

3 Receivables

Receivables consist of accounts receivable and contracts receivable. Accounts receivable represent recorded revenues that have been billed. Contracts
receivable represent recorded revenues that are billable by the Company at future dates under the terms of a contract with a client. Billings and other
consideration received on contracts in excess of related revenues recognized under the percentage-of-completion method are recorded as deferred
revenue. A summary of receivables is as follows:

(In thousands)
Accounts receivable, net of allowance
Contracts receivable

Total receivables

$

$

2003

162,234
94,340

256,574

2002

188,614
84,054

272,668

Substantially  all  receivables  are  derived  from  sales  and  related  support  and  maintenance  of  the  Company's  clinical,  administrative  and  financial 
information systems and solutions to healthcare providers located throughout the United States and in certain foreign countries. Included in receivables
at the end of 2003 and 2002 are amounts due from healthcare providers located in foreign countries of $29,072,000 and $23,589,000, respectively.
Consolidated revenues include foreign sales of $54,191,000, $36,634,000 and $22,794,000 during 2003, 2002 and 2001, respectively. Consolidated
long-lived assets at the end of 2003 and 2002 include foreign long-lived assets of $4,254,000 and $1,120,000, respectively. Revenues and long-lived
assets from any one foreign country are not material.

The  Company  provides  an  allowance  for  estimated  uncollectible  accounts  based  upon  a  specific  identification  basis  and  based  on  historical 
experience  and  management's  judgment.  At  the  end  of  2003  and  2002  the  allowance  for  estimated  uncollectible  accounts  was  $12,056,000  and
$9,502,000 respectively.

67

4 Property and Equipment

A summary of property, equipment, and leasehold improvements stated at cost, less accumulated depreciation and amortization, is as follows:

(In thousands)
Furniture and fixtures
Computer and communications equipment
Marketing equipment
Shop equipment
Leasehold improvements
Capital lease equipment
Land, buildings, and improvements

Less accumulated depreciation and amortization

Total property and equipment, net

5 Investments

Investments consist of the following:

(In thousands)
Investments in available-for-sale equity securities, at cost
Plus unrealized holding gain (loss)
Investment in available-for-sale equity securities, at fair value
Investments in non-marketable equity securities, at cost

Total investments, net

2003

36,520
150,600
2,649
2,902
47,931
13,087
104,374

358,063

153,110

204,953

2003

12
-
12
680

692

$

$

$

$

2002

30,197
120,939
2,649
2,902
41,467
2,208
59,444

259,806

125,523

134,283

2002

150
(62)
88
876

964

On  February  13,  2000  CareInsite  entered  into  an  agreement  to  merge  with  WebMD.  The  merger  of  CareInsite  and  WebMD  ("Merger")  closed  on
September 12, 2000. Prior to the merger, the carrying value of the CareInsite stock was $6.22 per share, and the market price of WebMD on September
12, 2000 was $15.00 per share. Upon the exchange of CareInsite stock for WebMD stock, the Company recorded an investment gain of $120,362,000,
net of $68,292,000 of tax, as a result of the exchange.

On December 12, 2000, the Company sold 4,273,509 shares of WebMD for $25,641,000. Accordingly, the Company recorded an investment loss of
$24,539,000, net of $13,923,000 of tax, as a result of the sale.

On June 18, 2001 the Company reached an agreement with WebMD regarding certain performance metrics related to specified levels of physician usage
arising out of the original license transaction between the Company and CareInsite, which had been merged into WebMD. Under the agreement, the
Company  received  2,000,000  shares  of  WebMD  stock,  valued  at  $11,580,000,  in  exchange  for  $432,000  in  cash  and  the  cancellation  of  various 
obligations due to the Company by WebMD. As a result of this agreement, the Company recognized a gain of $4,836,000, net of $2,744,000 in tax, in
gain on software license settlement in the accompanying consolidated statement of operations. The Company’s policy is to review declines in fair value
of its marketable equity securities for declines that may be other than temporary. As a result of this policy, during the second quarter of 2001, the
Company recorded a write-down of its investment in WebMD from $15.00 per share to $5.79 per share. Accordingly, the Company recognized a charge
to earnings of $81,419,000, net of $46,197,000 in tax.

In the second quarter of 2002, the Company sold its remaining 14,820,527 shares of WebMD for $90,119,000. Accordingly, the Company recorded an
investment  gain  of  $2,736,000,  net  of  $1,572,000  in  tax,  as  a  result  of  the  sale.  Since  the  shares  sold  had  a  lower  income  tax  basis,  the  sale 
resulted in the transfer of approximately $29,638,000 of deferred tax liabilities to income taxes payable in the second quarter of 2002. In the third 
quarter of 2002, the Company made a cash payment of tax in the amount of $31,200,000 related to the investment gain.

In December 2002, the Company exercised 1,048,783 warrants of WebMD with an exercise price of $3.08 and a cost basis and carrying value of
$4,146,000.  The  warrants  were  scheduled  to  expire  on  January  26,  2003.  In  December  2002,  the  Company  sold  1,048,783  shares  of  WebMD  for

68

$8,242,000. Accordingly, the Company recorded an investment gain of $527,000, net of $342,000 in tax, as a result of the exercise of the warrants
and the sale of the shares. 

The Company has certain other minority equity investments in non-publicly traded securities. These investments are generally carried at cost as the
Company owns less than 20% of the voting equity and does not have the ability to exercise significant influence over these companies. The balance of
these investments at January 3, 2004 and December 28, 2002 was $680,000 and $876,000, respectively. These investments are inherently high risk
as  the  market  for  technologies  and  content  by  these  companies  are  usually  early  stage  at  the  time  of  the  investment  by  the  Company  and  such 
markets may never be significant. The Company could lose its entire investment in certain or all of these companies. The Company monitors these
investments for impairment and makes appropriate reductions in carrying values when necessary. Based on events occurring in the fourth quarter of
2002,  the  Company  recorded  a  charge  of  $6,281,000,  net  of  tax  of  $3,623,000,  for  the  impairment  of  various  investments  of  non-publicly  traded 
securities.  The  charge  is  primarily  related  to  a  $3,464,000,  net  of  tax,  write  down  of  the  Company’s  investment  in  Protocare,  Inc,  a  non-publicly 
traded company. 

6 Indebtedness

In December 2002, the Company completed a $60,000,000 private placement of debt pursuant to a Note Agreement. The Series A Senior Notes, with
a $21,000,000 principal amount at 5.57%, are payable in three equal installments beginning in December 2006. The Series B Senior notes, with a
$39,000,000 principal amount at 6.42%, are payable in 4 equal annual installments beginning December 2009. The proceeds were used to repay the
outstanding amount under the Company’s credit facility and for general corporate purposes. The Note Agreement contains certain net worth and fixed
charge coverage covenants and provides certain restrictions on the Company’s ability to borrow, incur liens, sell assets and pay dividends. The Company
was in compliance with all covenants at January 3, 2004. 

In June 2002, the Company expanded its credit facility by entering into an unsecured credit agreement with a group of banks led by US Bank. This new
agreement provides for a current revolving line of credit for working capital purposes. The current revolving line of credit is unsecured and requires
monthly payments of interest only. Interest is payable at the Company’s option at a rate based on prime (4% at January 3, 2004) or LIBOR (1.12% at
January 3, 2004) plus 2%. The interest rate may be reduced by up to 1% if certain net worth ratios are maintained. At January 3, 2004, the Company
had no outstanding borrowings under this agreement and had $90,000,000 available for working capital purposes. The agreement contains certain net
worth, current ratio, and fixed charge coverage covenants and provides certain restrictions on the Company’s ability to borrow, incur liens, sell assets,
and pay dividends. A commitment fee of 1/2% or 3/10% is payable quarterly based on the usage of the revolving line of credit. The revolving line of
credit matures on May 31, 2005.

In April 1999, the Company completed a $100,000,000 private placement of debt pursuant to a Note Agreement. The Series A Senior Notes, with a
$60,000,000  principal  amount  at  7.14%,  are  payable  in  five  equal  annual  installments  beginning  in  April  2002.  The  Series  B  Senior  Notes,  with  a
$40,000,000  principal  amount  at  7.66%,  are  payable  in  six  equal  annual  installments  beginning  April  2004.  The  proceeds  were  used  to  retire  the
Company’s  existing  $30,000,000  of  debt,  and  the  remaining  funds  will  be  used  for  capital  improvements  and  to  strengthen  the  Company’s  cash 
position. The note agreement contains certain net worth, current ratio, and fixed charge coverage covenants and provides certain restrictions on the
Company’s ability to borrow, incur liens, sell assets, and pay dividends. The Company was in compliance with all covenants at January 3, 2004.

The Company also has capital lease obligations amounting to $9,732,000, payable over the next five years.

The aggregate maturities for the Company’s long-term debt, including capital lease obligations, is as follows (in thousands):

2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009 and thereafter

$ 

$ 

21,162 
21,358
28,246
15,004
14,295
45,667
145,732

The Company estimates the fair value of its long-term, fixed-rate debt using discounted cash flow analysis based on the Company's current borrowing
rates for debt with similar maturities. The fair value of the Company’s long-term debt was approximately $147,072,000 and $149,023,000 at January
3, 2004 and December 28, 2002, respectively.

69

7

Interest Income and Expense

A summary of interest income and expense is as follows:

(In thousands)
Interest income
Interest expense

Interest expense, net

2003

1,219
(8,236)

(7,017)

$

$

2002

1,080
(6,635)

(5,555)

2001

2,896
(7,321)

(4,425)

8 Stock Options, Warrants and Equity

At the end of 2003 and 2002, the Company had 1,000,000 shares of authorized but unissued preferred stock, $.01 par value. 

At January 3, 2004, the Company had four fixed stock option plans. Under Stock Option Plan C, the Company is authorized to grant to associates options
to purchase up to 645,000 shares of common stock through May 18, 2003. The options are exercisable at the fair market value on the date of grant
for a period determined by the Board of Directors (not more than ten years from the date granted). The options contain restrictions as to tranferability
and exercisability after termination of employment. The Company has committed not to issue any more stock options under Stock Option Plan C.

Initially, under Stock Option Plan D, the Company was authorized to grant to associates, directors, consultants or advisors to the Company options to
purchase up to 50,000 shares of common stock through January 1, 2005. Additional shares which were approved by the Company’s shareholders on
May 17, 1994, May 16, 1995 and May 22, 1998, increasing the total authorized to grant to 4,600,000 shares. The options are exercisable at a price
(not  less  than  fair  market  value  on  the  date  of  grant)  and  during  a  period  determined  by  the  Stock  Option  Committee.  Options  under  this  plan 
currently vest over periods of up to ten years and are exercisable for periods of up to 25 years.

Initially, under Stock Option Plan E, the Company was authorized to grant to associates (other than officers subject to the provisions of Section 16(a) of
the  Securities  and  Exchange  Act  of  1934),  consultants,  or  advisors  to  the  Company  options  to  purchase  up  to  2,000,000  shares  of  common  stock
through January 1, 2005. Additional shares of 1,100,000 and 1,000,000 were approved by the Company’s Board of Directors on December 8, 2000
and March 9, 2001, respectively, increasing the total authorized to grant to 4,100,000 shares. The options are exercisable at a price (not less than fair
market value on the date of grant) and during a period determined by the Stock Option Committee. Options under this plan currently vest over periods
of up to ten years and are exercisable for periods of up to 25 years.

Under the 2001 Long-Term Incentive Plan F, the Company is authorized to grant to associates, directors and consultants 2,000,000 shares of common
stock awards. Awards under this plan may consist of stock options, restricted stock and performance shares, as well as other awards such as stock
appreciation rights, phantom stock and performance unit awards which may be payable in the form of common stock or cash. However, not more than
500,000 of such shares will be available to granting any types of grants other than options or stock appreciation rights.

The Company has also granted 854,085 other non-qualified stock options under separate agreements to employees and certain third parties. These
options are exercisable at a price equal to or greater than the fair market value on the date of grant. These options vest over periods of up to six years
and are exercisable for periods of up to ten years. The Company recognized expenses related to the non-qualified stock options of $34,000, $90,000
and $215,000 for 2003, 2002 and 2001, respectively. 

A combined summary of the status of the Company’s five fixed stock option plans and other stock options at the end of 2003, 2002, and 2001, and
changes during these years ended is presented below:

2003

2002

2001

Fixed options
Outstanding at beginning of year
Granted
Exercised
Forfeited
Outstanding at end of year

Number
Of
Shares
8,080,864
951,917
(324,622)
(564,545)
8,143,614

Options exercisable at year-end

3,239,586

Weighted-
average
exercise
price
31.28
26.43
20.70
41.16
30.37

26.89 

$

$

$

Weighted-
average
exercise
price
28.79
43.50
19.40
36.17
31.28

24.94 

$

$

$

Number
of
shares
6,300,265
1,483,998
(235,942)
(304,097)
7,244,224

1,825,150

Weighted-
average
exercise
price
22.50
47.37
17.46
26.04
28.79

24.29

$

$

$

Number
Of
Shares
7,244,224
1,501,729
(167,092)
(497,997)
8,080,864

2,512,357

70

The following table summarizes information about fixed and other stock options outstanding at January 3, 2004.

Options outstanding

Options exercisable

Range of
Exercise
Prices

$

9.59-20.50
20.56-27.00
27.25-43.29
43.31-273.72
9.59-273.72

Number
outstanding
at 1/3/04

2,037,896
2,145,162
2,181,599
1,778,957
8,143,614

Weighted-average
remaining
contractual life

Weighted-average
exercise price

13.14 years
8.43
9.11
6.86
9.45

$

15.91
23.41
35.66
48.84
30.37

Number
exercisable 
at 1/3/04

1,177,399
816,440
943,047
302,70
3,239,586

Weighted-average
exercise price

$

16.12
23.66
34.48
53.77
26.89

The per share weighted-average fair value of stock options granted during 2003, 2002 and 2001 was $15.34, $25.80 and $25.93, respectively, on the
date of grant using the Black Scholes option-pricing model with the following weighted-average assumptions:

Expected years until exercise
Risk-free interest rate
Expected stock volatility
Expected dividend yield

9 Associate Stock Purchase Plan

2003

4.7
3.8%
71.2%
0%

2002

4.7
3.4%
68.7%
0%

2001

4.7
4.5%
71.3%
0%

The  Company  established  an  Associate  Stock  Purchase  Plan  (ASPP)  in  2001,  which  qualifies  under  Section  423  of  the  Internal  Revenue  Code.  All 
full-time associates are eligible to participate. Participants may elect to make contributions from 1% to 20% of compensation to the ASPP, subject to
annual limitations determined by the Internal Revenue Service. Participants may purchase Company Common Stock at a 15% discount on the last day
of the purchase period. Under APB No. 25 the ASPP qualifies as a non-compensatory plan and no compensation expense has been recognized.

10 Foundations Retirement Plan

The  Cerner  Corporation  Foundations  Retirement  Plan  (the  Plan)  is  established  under  Section  401(k)  of  the  Internal  Revenue  Code.  All  full-time 
associates are eligible to participate. Participants may elect to make pretax contributions from 1% to 80% of compensation to the Plan, subject to 
annual limitations determined by the Internal Revenue Service. Participants may direct contributions into mutual funds, a money market fund, or a
Company stock fund. The Company makes matching contributions to the Plan, on behalf of participants, in an amount equal to 33% of the first 6% of
the  participant's  contribution.  The  Company's  expense  for  the  plan  amounted  to  $5,325,000,  $4,347,000  and  $3,269,000  for  2003,  2002  and 
2001, respectively.

The Company added a discretionary match to the Plan in 2000. Contributions are based on attainment of established earnings per share goals for the
year.  Only  participants  in  the  Plan  are  eligible  to  receive  the  discretionary  match  contribution.  For  the  years  ended  2002  and  2001,  the  Company
expensed $5,345,000 and $3,688,000 for discretionary distributions, respectively. There were no discretionary distributions for 2003.

71

11 Income Taxes

Income tax expense (benefit) for the years ended 2003, 2002 and 2001, consists of the following:

2003

2002

2001

(In thousands)
Current:
Federal
State
Foreign
Total current

Deferred:
Federal
State
Foreign
Total deferred

$

6,439
1,790
(4,484)
3,745

22,409
2,806
(529)
24,686

Total income tax expense (benefit) 

$

28,431

49,384
5,699
(1,262)
53,821

(21,676)
(1,245)
431
(22,490)

31,331

20,129
2,862
(740)
22,251

(41,307)
(1,451)
(441)
(43,199)

(20,948)

Income tax benefit attributable to the cumulative effect of a change in accounting principle for goodwill was $486,000 in 2002. Income tax expense
(benefit) allocated to stockholders’ equity for unrealized holding gains (losses) on available-for-sale equity securities was $14,000, ($6,824,000) and
$39,846,000 for the years ended 2003, 2002 and 2001, respectively.

Temporary differences between the financial statement carrying amounts and tax basis of assets and liabilities that give rise to significant portions of
deferred income taxes at the end of 2003 and 2002 relate to the following:

2003

2002

(In thousands)
Deferred Tax Assets

Accrued expenses
Separate return net operating losses
Other
Total deferred tax assets

Deferred Tax Liabilities

Software development costs 
Contract and service revenues and costs
Depreciation and amortization
Other
Total deferred tax liabilities

$

9,920
10,442
5,024
25,386 

(55,291)
(25,096)
(14,279)
(5,806)
(100,472)

Net deferred tax liability

$

(75,086)

8,854
14,236
6,729
29,819

(47,594)
(21,915)
(8,497)
(2,214)
(80,220)

(50,401)

Based upon the level of historical taxable income and projections for future taxable income over the periods which the deferred tax assets are deductible,
as well as the scheduled reversal of deferred tax liabilities, management believes it is more likely than not the Company will realize the benefit of these
deductible differences. At January 3, 2004, the Company has net operating loss carryforwards subject to Section 382 of the Internal Revenue Code for
Federal income tax purposes of $27.3 million which are available to offset future Federal taxable income, if any, through 2014. 

72

The  effective  income  tax  rates  for  2003,  2002,  and  2001  were  40%,  39%,  and  33%,  respectively.  These  effective  rates  differ  from  the  federal 
statutory rate of 35% as follows:

(In thousands)
Tax expense (benefit) at statutory rates
State income tax, net of federal benefit
Goodwill
Other, net

Total income tax expense (benefit)

2003

24,928
2,315
793
395

28,431

$

$

2002

27,774
2,579
364
614

31,331

2001

(22,160)
43
705
464

(20,948)

Income taxes payable are reduced by the tax benefit resulting from disqualifying dispositions of stock acquired under the Company's stock option plans.
The 2003, 2002, and 2001 benefits of $1,876,000, $1,561,000, and $2,328,000, respectively, are treated as increases to additional paid-in capital.

12 Related Party Transactions

The Company has made loans, to the Company’s senior management under the terms of the Executive Stock Purchase Program ("Program"). The 
purpose of the Program is to advance the interests of the Company, the Company’s senior management, and the Company’s shareholders by offering
the Company’s senior management an incentive to purchase shares of the Company’s stock on the open market. Pursuant to the Program, the Company
provided Program loans to executives to help finance up to 50% of the total purchase price of the stock purchased. All Program loans have a term of
five (5) years, at an interest rate of 5.5%. Principal and interest is not due until the end of the five-year loan term, unless the executive terminates
employment. Executives may also elect to pay interest annually. If interest is not paid annually, it will compound annually. All Program loans are secured
by the purchased shares and any pledged shares. The balance of these loans, including accrued interest, at January 3, 2004 and December 28, 2002
was $1,710,000 and $2,293,000, respectively. Loans to the Company’s senior executives are no longer permitted under this program.

The Company leases an airplane from a company owned by Mr. Neal L. Patterson and Mr. Clifford W. Illig. The airplane is leased on a per mile basis
with  no  minimum  usage  guarantee.  The  lease  rate  is  believed  to  approximate  fair  market  value  for  this  type  of  aircraft.  During  2003  and  2002, 
respectively, the Company paid an aggregate of $839,055 and $543,000 for the rental of the airplane. The airplane is used principally by Mr. Patterson,
Mr. Black and Mr. Devanny to make client visits.

On July 1, 2001, the Company completed its purchase of certain assets and certain liabilities for cash of APACHE Medical Systems, Inc., a Delaware
corporation ("APACHE"), as further described in note 2, Business Acquisitions. One of the Company’s directors, Gerald E. Bisbee, Jr., Ph.D., was at the
time Chairman of the Board and a shareholder of APACHE. 

13 Commitments

The Company leases space to unrelated parties in its North Kansas City headquarters complex under noncancelable operating leases. Included in other
revenues is rental income of $145,000, $87,000 and $183,000 in 2003, 2002 and 2001, respectively.

The Company is committed under operating leases for office space through May 2013. Rent expense for office and warehouse space for the Company’s
regional and global offices for 2003, 2002 and 2001 was $5,345,000, $5,175,000 and $2,718,000, respectively. Aggregate minimum future payments
(in thousands) under these noncancelable operating leases are as follows:

Years

Aggregate Minimum future payments

2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009 and thereafter

$

11,320
6,121
4,184
3,085
2,659
6,872

73

14 Segment Reporting

Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 131 , "Disclosures about Segments of an Enterprise and Related Information" establishes annual and
interim  reporting  standards  for  operating  segments  of  a  company.  It  also  requires  entity-wide  disclosures  about  the  products  and  services  an 
entity  provides,  the  material  countries  in  which  it  holds  assets  and  reports  revenues,  and  its  major  clients.  In  2003,  the  Company  organized 
geographically.  The  Company’s  six  geographic  business  segments  are:  Great  Lakes,  Mid-America,  North  Atlantic,  Southeast,  West  and  Global.  The
Company has not presented comparable information for prior periods as the necessary information is not available and the cost to develop it would 
be excessive. 

Revenues are derived primarily from the sale of clinical, financial and administrative information systems and solutions. The cost of revenues includes
the cost of third party consulting services, computer hardware and sublicensed software purchased from computer and software manufacturers for
delivery to clients. It also includes the cost of hardware maintenance and sublicensed software support subcontracted to the manufacturers. Operating
expenses incurred by the geographic business segments consist of sales and client service expenses including salaries of sales and client service 
personnel, communications expenses and unreimbursed travel expenses. Performance of the segments is assessed at the operating earnings level and,
therefore,  the  segment  operations  have  been  presented  as  such.  "Other"  includes  revenues  not  generated  by  the  operating  segments  and 
expenses  such  as  software  development,  marketing,  general  and  administrative  and  Depreciation  that  have  not  been  allocated  to  the  operating 
segments. The Company does not track assets by geographical business segment.

Accounting  policies  for  each  of  the  reportable  segments  are  the  same  as  those  used  on  a  consolidated  basis.  The  following  table  presents  a 
summary of the operating information for the year ended January 3, 2004:

2003

Great
Lakes

Mid-
America

North
Atlantic

South-
east

West

Global

Other

Total

Operating Segments

Revenues

$ 153,949

$ 160,633

$ 149,585

$ 145,312

$ 161,840

$

54,191

$

14,077

$ 839,587

Cost of revenues
Operating expenses
Total costs 
and expenses

36,910
24,897

35,447
24,815

37,520
26,788

40,784
29,454

28,321
28,223

13,450
35,814

1,858
397,209

194,290
567,200

61,807

60,262

64,308

70,238

56,544

49,264

399,067

761,490

Operating earnings $

92,142

$ 100,371

$

85,277

$

75,074

$ 105,296

$

4,927

$ (384,990)

$

78,097

74

15 Quarterly Results (unaudited)

Selected quarterly financial data for 2003 and 2002 is set forth below:

(In thousands, except per share data)

2003 quarterly results:

March 29
June 29
September 27
January 3

Total

2002 quarterly results:

March 30
June 29 (1)
September 28
December 28 (2) (3)

Total

Revenues

198,191
207,695
206,292
227,409

839,587

181,422
186,824
196,989
215,027

780,262

$

$

$

$

Earnings
before income taxes
and cumulative
effect of a change in
accounting principle

Net
earnings

Basic
earnings
per share

Diluted
earnings
per share

9,418
14,871
20,046
26,887

71,222

17,171
23,828
22,716
16,910

80,625

5,593
8,943
12,047
16,208

42,791

10,404
14,692
13,768
9,158

48,022

.16
.25
.34
.46

.29
.41
.39
.28

.15
.25
.33
.44

.28
.39
.37
.27

(1) Includes a gain on the sale of shares of WebMD common stock. The impact of this gain is a $2.9 million (net of tax) increase in net earnings and
increase to diluted earnings per share of $.08 for the second quarter and for 2002.

(2) Includes a gain on the sale of shares of WebMD common stock. The impact of this gain is a $.5 million (net of tax) increase in net earnings and an
increase to diluted earnings per share of $.01 for the fourth quarter and for 2002.

(3) Includes a charge on the impairment of investments. The impact of this charge is a $6.3 million (net of tax) decrease in net earnings and a decrease
to diluted earnings per share of ($.17) for the fourth quarter and for 2002.

75

Annual Meeting of Shareholders
The Annual Meeting will be held at 10:00 a.m. on May 28, 2004, at The Cerner Round auditorium in the Cerner Vision Center, located on the Cerner
campus at 2850 Rockcreek Parkway, North Kansas City, Missouri. A formal notice of the Meeting, with a Proxy Statement and Proxy form, will be mailed
to each shareholder in April 2004.

Annual Report/10-K Report
Publications of interest to current and potential Cerner investors are available upon written request or via Cerner’s Web site at www.cerner.com. These
include annual and quarterly reports and the Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Written requests should be made to:

Administrator of Shareholder Relations
Cerner Corporation
2800 Rockcreek Parkway
North Kansas City, MO 64117-2551

Inquires  of  an  administrative  nature  relating  to  shareholder  accounting  records,  stock  transfer,  change  of  address,  and  miscellaneous  shareholder
requests should be directed to the transfer agent and registrar, UMB Bank, at (816) 860 7786.

Transfer Agent and Registrar
Securities Transfer Division
UMB Bank
P.O. Box 410064
Kansas City, MO 64141-0064
(816) 860 7786

Stock Listings
Cerner Corporation’s common stock trades on The NASDAQ Stock Market under the symbol CERN.

Independent Accountants
KPMG LLP
Kansas City, MO

76

706552 DP_CVR  4/19/04  2:11 PM  Page 2

Community Health Model

1. Automate the Care Process

3. Structure the Knowledge

Cerner offers a longitudinal, person-centric electronic medical record, giving
clinicians fingertip access to the right information at the right time and place.

Cerner is dedicated to building systems that bring the best science to every
medical  decision  by  structuring,  storing  and  studying  the  content 
surrounding each care episode.

2. Connect the Person

Cerner  is  dedicated  to  building  a  personal  health  system.  Medical 
information and care regimens accessible from home empower consumers
to  effectively  manage  their  conditions  and  adhere  to  treatment  plans, 
creating a new medium between physicians and individuals.

4. Close the Loop

Today,  the  gap  between  medical  discovery  and  its  incoporation  into  daily
practice  can  be  as  long  as  10  years.  Cerner  is  dedicated  to  building 
systems  that  implement  evidence-based  medicine,  dramatically  reducing 
the average time from the discovery of an improved method to the change in
the standard of care.

ANNUAL REPORT 2003

706552 DP_CVR  4/19/04  2:11 PM  Page 1

UNITED STATES

KANSAS CITY, MO
Cerner Corporation
World Headquarters
2800 Rockcreek Parkway
North Kansas City, MO  64117
(816) 221 1024

BEVERLY HILLS, CA
Cerner Corporation
9100 Wilshire Boulevard
Suite 655 East 
Beverly Hills, CA 90212
(310) 247 7700

DENVER, CO
Cerner Multum
3200 Cherry Creek South Drive
Suite 300
Denver, CO 80209
(303) 733 4447

OVERLAND PARK, KS
BeyondNow Technologies
5750 W. 95th St., Suite 310
Overland Park, KS  66207
(913) 385 0212

WORLDWIDE

AUSTRALIA
Cerner Corporation PTY Limited
Level 10, 52 Alfred Street
Milsons Point
NSW 2061
Australia
+61 2 9900 4800

BELGIUM
Cerner Belgium
Drere Richelle 161
Batiment N
B-1410 Waterloo
Belgium
+32 2357 2000

CANADA
Cerner Canada Limited 
Cerner Vision Centre
Phase 1, Tower 2, Level 3
800 Commissioners Road East
London, Ontario N6A4G5
Canada
(519) 685 8499

LAKE MARY, FL
Cerner DHT
615 Crescent Executive Court
Suite 500
Lake Mary, FL 32746
(407) 333 5300

BEL AIR, MD
Cerner Project IMPACT
23 Ellendale Street
Bel Air, MD 21014
(410) 838 1275

WALTHAM, MA
Cerner DHT
Two University Office Park
Suite 600
51 Sawyer Road
Waltham, MA 02453
(781) 642 6200

DETROIT, MI
Cerner Corporation
28333 Telegraph Road, Suite 500
Southfield, MI 48034
(248) 357 1818

GERMANY
Cerner Deutschland GmbH

and

Image Devices GmbH
Cunoweg 1
65510 Idstein
+49 (0) 6126 957575

LATIN AMERICA / CARIBBEAN
Cerner Latin America 
Av. Santa Fe 1731
6 floor of. 22
Buenos Aires
Argentina
+54 11 5236 0544

MALAYSIA
Cerner Malaysia Sdn Bhd
Level 36, Menara Citibank
165 Jalan Ampang
50450 Kuala Lumpur
Malaysia
+60 3 2169 6218

ST. LOUIS, MO
Cerner Citation
424 Woods Mill Road
Suite 200
Chesterfield, MO 63017
(314) 579 7900

HOUSTON, TX
Cerner Radiology 
Information Systems
5 Greenway Plaza
Suite 1900
Houston, TX 77046
(832) 325 1500

VIENNA, VA
Cerner Corporation
1953 Gallows Road
Suite 507
Vienna, VA  22182
(703) 245 8100

SINGAPORE
Cerner Singapore Limited
391A Orchard Road
#12-01 Ngee Ann City Tower A
Singapore 238873
+65 6734 3566

SAUDI ARABIA
Cerner Arabia Limited
6/F Suite 609 Al-Akaria Bldg. 3
Olaya Road
Riyadh
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
+966 1 460 0510

UNITED KINGDOM
Cerner Limited
6th Floor, North Wing
3 Sheldon Square
Paddington Central
London WZ 6PW
+44 (0) 20 7432 8100

www.cerner.com

Cerner 2003 Annual Report

1358/2004