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Former Member
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SAP’s Mobile Insights Webcasts Series continues with a focus on Mobility in Healthcare. In this blog, I share my discussion with our presenter, Jan Korten of SAP, who will preview SAP's mobility framework for healthcare during the webcast.

But first, a word on why I find this webcast really compelling - here's a quote I recently read:

“2011, in my humble opinion, promises to be one of the most exciting years in terms of patient and physician empowerment thanks to the convergence of healthcare technologies including electronic health records (EHRs), healthcare information exchanges (HIEs), personal health records (PHRs), patient management and clinical information systems as well as the advent of exciting mobile medical devices, services and applications.” - Andy Dé, a visionary, passionate and social-media fluent Health-Sciences IT innovation strategy, marketing and thought leader

Jan Korten
Solution Owner Healthcare Provider IBU, SAP AG

Jan Korten, a physician with over 12 years of experience in healthcare IT projects, has been instrumental in providing software solutions for laboratories, GPs and hospitals.  He has led projects in development and consulting, and has built up the Product Management team for a clinical information system. Currently, Jan is responsible for core clinical applications and mobile applications for healthcare at SAP.


Q: Jan, how long have you been with SAP and what is your role?

A: I joined the Solution Management Healthcare team at SAP in 2006. Since joining SAP, I’ve been working on defining the Business Process Platform for Healthcare, modeling Process Components and Service Operations and our team is responsible overall for Core Clinical Applications and Mobile Applications for Healthcare.

Q:  What healthcare solution is SAP is launching in 2011?

A: At the end of October, we are launching what we call a mobility framework for healthcare, which consists of applications targeting healthcare providers – physicians and nurses. The first application is SAP Mobile EMR for the iPad. The target group is physicians and nurses who are moving through healthcare facilities during their normal work day. The application provides instant access to information at the point of care.

Q: What information is available via this solution?

A: Electronic Medical Records – radiology images, lab results, diagnostic procedures, risk factors, allergy information – patient information on the mobile device with a consumable, friendly UI.

Q: Is the solution compatible with most clinical systems?

A: Long term, yes, this solution will be compatible with most clinical systems. We’re starting with SAP’s clinical system, i.s.h. med, where the connector will already be in place. Our goal is to partner with other clinical platforms to create a connector with our mobility platform. We are currently talking with a few vendors in EMEA and our global partner in healthcare, Siemens. Talks with other major clinical systems are also underway.       

Q: What are the requirements to deploy SAP’s Mobile EMR system?

A: To deploy the SAP Mobile EMR for iPad, healthcare organizations will need to license the mobile application itself plus SAP’s mobile platform, which consists of Sybase Unwired Platform that provides connectivity to the backend clinical system and Afaria that provides mobile device management. Professional services will also be available to help with the implementation of the solution.

Q: What level of adoption have we seen from physicans and nurses?

A: We have been interviewing clinicians and the feedbck is overwhelmingly positive, especially regarding the intuitive UI.  CIOs  are impressed with the completeness of our approach – including the openness of the platform regarding backend systems and mobile device options.

Q: What other devices does our mobile solution support?

A: The first version will be available on iOS/iPad. The Android operating system and related HTC/Samsung tablets will be added shortly. These two platforms make up 95% of the mobile healthcare market now.

Q: What are the biggest barriers to adoption and challenges eHealth faces?

  1. Adoption by care providers: Many experienced clinicians have very well eablished processes that they are reluctant to change.
  2. Healthcare institutions have highly fragmented backend systems: It’s challenging to integrate all the varied legacy healthcare systems within a large medical instituion. There are an unusually large number of data souces with critical personal health data that must be handled carefullly in a highly regulated industry.

But we are very optimistic that these challenges in the end can be overcome leveraging SAP’s core strengths: integration, consolidation and process management support.

Q: Any closing thoughts?

A: Overall, we think the time has come for mobile medical soutuions to reach broad adoption and the market for our mobile EMR is very promising.

To learn more, join Jan and Thilo Berndt (Product Owner - SAP Mobile for Healthcare, SAP AG) on August 31 for our live webcast “Mobile Electronic Medical Records from SAP” and ask YOUR questions. See the link for registration in this blog post.

Disclaimer - I have a strong professional interest and personal passion for eHealth, as I was very involved in the topic while at Palm, Inc. from 2001- 2007. The Palm Pilot, loaded with ePocrates was the mainstay of physicians’ toolset for many, many years.

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