SAP IS-Healthcare is to be covered by a HIS from various manufacturers
The words of SAP CEO Christian Klein are now legendary: "We leave no one behind." Unfortunately, this statement only applies to the digital transformation of the core ERP system from ECC 6.0 to S/4 in the cloud. SAP industry solutions such as IS-H are obviously excluded from this. SAP's announcement in October 2022 that it would not be offering a successor solution for the SAP Industry Solution Healthcare (I-SH) - also known as SAP Patient Management - in the S/4 world has already caused unrest in the healthcare sector. The impact on the market for hospital information systems is also noticeable.
Clinics and hospitals are currently feeling the effects of the SAP strategy change once again: Oracle Cerner has announced that it will not be renewing the support contracts for the IS-H Complaints Monitor (RKT) solution package. RKT is called up from IS-H and supports the processes for processing, documenting and evaluating data in connection with health insurance complaints, medical service audits and other complaints relating to a treatment case. It is indispensable in many clinics. From the point of view of the German-speaking SAP user group, this discontinuation is a further bitter blow for the industry.
SAP, Oracle and Cerner
The healthcare industry and hospitals in particular are facing the challenge that there is no successor to the SAP industry solutions SAP Patient Management for Healthcare Facilities and Cerner i.s.h.med, the clinical information system from partner Cerner. SAP wants to offer options for the modular hospital IT system. Providers of hospital information systems are to be provided with supporting interfaces as well as the SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP) in general as an extension platform.
In addition to the existing interfaces, SAP wants to offer further different options for integrating hospital information systems, which are to map the existing IS-H functionalities in future, into the S/4 Core system. These options include Foundation Services, a connection via the FHIR interface - in the cloud. The functionalities for patient administration and billing that have been mapped in IS-H to date are to be covered by modern hospital information systems from various manufacturers in the future. However, it is currently uncertain to what extent or whether Cerner's clinical information system (i.s.h.med) will make this possible in the future. With this strategy, SAP wants to let customers choose their modular set-up for patient billing and their clinical processes - in line with the Christian Klein motto: "We leave no one behind.
Oracle Cerner is currently discontinuing support for IS-H Complaint Monitor. i.s.h.med is used to record medical data - from anamnesis to therapy and follow-up treatment. "IS-H is very closely linked to Oracle Cerner's hospital information system i.s.h.med, which is used by many hospitals. This product is operated entirely on the discontinued SAP ECC 6.0," explains Hermann-Josef Haag, DSAG Board Member for Human Resources and Public Sector.
And his DSAG colleague Michael Pfeil, spokesperson for the Healthcare working group and full-time head of the Business Applications department at Bonn University Hospital, adds: "Oracle Cerner will also discontinue support for the HIS." Oracle Cerner has announced that it will launch a successor solution for i.s.h.med. However, it is still unclear when this solution will be able to offer a complete replacement for the i.s.h.med functions. "As if this situation wasn't difficult enough, Oracle Cerner has now announced that it will not be renewing the support contracts for the IS-H Complaint Monitor solution package," says Michael Pfeil. The consequence: with the expiry of the support contract, the entitlement to corrections and enhancements to this solution package no longer applies. This also applies to new legal requirements. The solution of a partner company is recommended as a successor. "This is unacceptable. The RKT integrated in IS-H with feedback to the accounting system for reporting open invoices and the resulting disputed values has become an integral part of billing at many hospitals and clinics."
