Presumably effective April 1, 2009, Siemens Medical Solutions GSD GmbH, a wholly owned subsidiary of Siemens Healthcare Sector, will take over all use and exploitation rights to the software i.s.h.med, which are today held by T-Systems in Austria. The transfer is subject to customary closing conditions. In addition, Siemens, SAP, and T-Systems Austria plan to intensify their existing cooperation. The objective is to deliver comprehensive software solutions that cover a hospital's entire requirements spectrum to their joint customers. I.s.h.med is a clinical information system that is fully integrated with the leading standard healthcare SAP software. The solution was jointly developed by the partner and forerunner companies of Siemens Medical Solutions GSD GmbH and the Austrian T-Systems. In the meantime, the software has become an important tool for planning, control, and communication for more than 300 hospitals in 16 countries worldwide.
"The complete transfer of product responsibility to Siemens allows us to directly introduce our future-oriented functionality like Smart User Interface, workflow, embedded analytics, and service oriented architecture into i.s.h.med, and implement our long-term development strategy for the product," explains Stefan Herm, head of Siemens Medical Solutions GSD GmbH and Senior Vice President of the Health Services Europe business unit for Siemens AG, Healthcare Sector. "The i.s.h.med solution will be further developed based on the SAP NetWeaverTM platform and the SAP® for Healthcare solution portfolio and join the next generation of hospital information systems, remaining an important part of our worldwide healthcare IT strategy."
SAP and Siemens intend to continue and intensify their cooperation to integrate i.s.h.med with SAP® for Healthcare. Both companies are currently working on the details of their upcoming collaboration plans and will disclose these in the near future. Both companies' goals are to provide global customers with information systems that connect business aspects, such as billing, human resources, and patient management with the clinical aspects of healthcare operations. With this offering, both companies are laying the foundation for more efficiency in healthcare and are therefore creating an essential prerequisite for better patient care.
"Hospitals and other healthcare organizations are under enormous cost and quality pressure today," says John Papandrea, Global Healthcare Sector Head at SAP AG. "Integrated information systems that cover both business and clinical tasks play a decisive role in increasing efficiency in healthcare today and in coming years. Given that i.s.h.med is fully integrated into SAP Patient Management for Healthcare, we look forward to closer collaboration with Siemens in the future."
The hospital information system i.s.h.med was developed in the '90s as a collaborative project among partners and forerunners of Siemens Medical Solutions GSD GmbH and T-Systems in Austria in close consultation with SAP. The companies then shared the rights to the product. In the meantime, the software has become an important tool for planning, control, and communication in more than 300 hospitals in 16 countries worldwide.
To further develop i.s.h.med, Siemens Healthcare plans to take over the product rights that currently belong to T-Systems Austria, a subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom focused on sales, implementation, and system integration of i.s.h.med. T-Systems remains an important partner for Siemens. In conjunction with the transfer of rights, 34 employees from the T-Systems development department will join Siemens AG Austria and, along with colleagues in development at Siemens Healthcare, put their proven know-how to work in the rapid further development of the i.s.h.med hospital information system.
"With the transfer of the 50 percent joint copyright of i.s.h.med and the acquisition of the developers responsible for this hospital information system from T-Systems, the entire product development is consolidated in the hands of Siemens," says Georg Obermeier, Managing Director of T-Systems in Austria. In so doing, investment protection for our customers is assured over the long term. It was important for us to continue to work closely with Siemens in the healthcare market. The comprehensive and worldwide support of all of our common customers is thus secured for the future."
3000 hospitals in more than 30 countries are already using Siemens Healthcare's IT solutions. The company offers an extensive portfolio of future-oriented IT solutions that cover the entire spectrum of varied needs of healthcare service providers.
Related news articles:
- Siemens Healthcare's Profile
About the hospital information system i.s.h.med
The software solution i.s.h.med is a clinical information system that is fully integrated in SAP. The hospital information system i.s.h.med is deployed in over 300 clinics in Austria, Belgium, Chile,
Columbia, Germany, Israel, Italy, Mexico, New Zealand, The Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, and Turkey. I.s.h.med thus ranks as one of the leading IT solutions in healthcare. Based on SAP for Healthcare industry solution, the i.s.h.med hospital information system offers medical functions for the clinical environment.
About SAP
SAP, with headquarters in Waldorf, Germany, is the worlds leading provider of business software, offering applications and services that enable companies of all sizes and in more than 25 industries to align their business process with growth and profitability. SAP applications are in use by more than 82,000 customers in over 120 countries. Founded in 1972, SAP is today the world's third largest independent software provider, with offices in over 50 countries. In fiscal year 2008 the company achieved sales of 11.6 billion euros. Currently, SAP has over 51, 500 employees, with more than
15,500 in Germany. The company is listed on several exchanges, including the Frankfurt stock exchange and the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: SAP). For more information, visit www.sap.com.
About T-Systems
With a global infrastructure of computer centers and networks, T-Systems operates information and communications technology (ICT) for multinational corporations and public institutions. On this basis, Deutsche Telekom's corporatecustomer unit offers integrated solutions for the connected future of business and society. Some 46,000 employees combine industry expertise and ICT innovations to add noticeable value to their customers' core business all over the world. T-Systems generated revenue of around EUR 11 billion in the 2008 financial year.
About Siemens Healthcare Sector
The Siemens Healthcare Sector is one of the largest suppliers of healthcare technology worldwide. The company is a medical solution provider with core competences and innovative strengths in diagnostic and therapeutic technologies as well as knowledge processing, including information technology and system integration. With its acquisitions in laboratory diagnostics, Siemens Healthcare is the first integrated healthcare company that combines imaging and lab diagnostics, therapy solutions and medical information technology and also supplements these with consultation and services.
Siemens Healthcare offers solutions for the entire supply chain under one roof - from prevention and early detection to diagnosis and on to treatment and aftercare. In addition, Siemens Healthcare is the world market leader for innovative hearing instruments. The company employs some 49,000 employees worldwide and is present in more than 130 countries. During fiscal 2008 (ending on September 30), Siemens Healthcare achieved a total sales volume of 11.17 billion euro and incoming orders totaling 11.78 billion euro. The Group earnings amounted to 1.23 billion euro. For more information, go to: http://www.siemens.com/healthcare.