Published on 23.04.2019
25 years and a new i.s.h.med
Alone, an anniversary is a joyous event. It is an opportunity to pause, look back, gather, and move forward with new energy. But in the case of our EHR i.s.h.med®, it is even more: we are celebrating not only a 25-year success story, which began with one installation in three countries, and is far from being over with around 700 clients in over 35 nations nowadays. Rather, we are also facing the next step in development and the next generation of i.s.h.med. But more on that later.
Looking back
First, let's take a quick look back: 25 years ago, i.s.h.med saw the light of day as part of a development cooperation between SAP, the then GSD in Berlin, and EDVg from Austria. The idea behind it: a clinical workstation system that is closely interlinked with a sophisticated administrative base and thus covers all relevant aspects of hospital operations – from patient administration to surgical planning, from logistics to drug delivery. For even then it was clear that smooth and efficient hospital operations require a consistent, uniform IT landscape.
This belief has not changed to this day. On the contrary, the requirements for an EHR have grown continuously and become more and more specific. So specific in fact, that a single system from a single manufacturer is no longer able to serve them sufficiently. While in the early days of i.s.h.med, passionate discussions were held in the health care IT world about best-of-breed vs. a monolithic system of one manufacturer, we have advanced beyond that now. Today, our focus is on applying interoperability standards that allow internal and external developers to create an ecosystem that truly benefits patients, clinicians and health care organizations.
What the future holds
From our understanding, a modern EHR consists of a base that represents standard requirements such as workflow support, administration, documentation and logistics. This basis is complemented by special solutions that work seamlessly and interact with the core system.
Cerner – now the sole owner and developer of i.s.h.med – and SAP have renewed their partnership after a quarter of a century. Martin Kopp, global general manager for health care providers at SAP, puts the reason for that in a nutshell: “SAP believes in the innovation power of open ecosystems and industry standards. We have a long-standing partnership with Cerner, whose i.s.h.med solution is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. i.s.h.med is the only hospital information system fully integrated with SAP’s health care solutions.” Together, we are creating the next generation of i.s.h.med, which builds on cloud technology, unshackling us from the limitations of the past, and allowing us to soar towards a future where the sky is the limit.
As a result, our clients will not only be able to more easily implement, roll out and maintain their EHR in the future, but also to make it more individual. By using a flexible software-as-a-service concept, it is not only possible to adapt the EHR to individually given circumstances and requirements, but also to avoid unnecessary costs relating to unused functions and modules. After all, a solution like i.s.h.med does not just exist to support the operation of a hospital. Rather, IT is making an important contribution to making health care across hospital boundaries more cost-effective, better-performing, and also safer for patients.
This attitude has not changed for us and our clients in 25 years. That's why we are excited to officially launch the next generation of i.s.h.med at International i.s.h.med live, our clients and partner event that takes place between 25-27 June in Berlin. For more event details please click here.
We would be delighted to welcome you to join us to celebrate the last 25 years and for us to take the step into the future of health care IT together.