SAP, the market and technology leader in software solutions, is now gearing up to tap the Indian healthcare space with its BusinessObjects XI to help track the spread of H1N1 virus causing swine flu. Currently, Emergency Medical Associates (EMA) is using SAP to track H1N1 across the North East United States in New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania.

EMA is a group of over 360 board-certified emergency physicians hired to manage emergency departments at 21 hospitals in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. EMA physicians treat upto 3,200 emergency patients per day and more than 900,000 each year. It originally selected data-visualization dashboards provided by SAP's Xcelsius software to monitor key performance indicators (KPIs) related to patients across the region.

During the swine flu outbreak early this year, EMA saw the potential for tracking influenza infection patterns among its emergency rooms. It helped to track the number of visits for the month versus past months; patient-walkout percentages; time of walk-in compared to time of admittance; and how long it took to treat and release, or treat and admit a patient.

Physicians, who are administrative directors in its network of contracted emergency departments, had online access to this information in real-time. The data was used to respond quickly to changing public health conditions. EMA is focusing on detecting outbreaks and other trends as quickly as possible to take proactive action. It was the first time in the US to understand the outbreak and spread pattern with this approach, Jonathan Rothman, Head, data management operations, Emergency Medical Associates (EMA) told Pharmabiz in an email interaction.

For SAP, its BusinessObjects XI is the standard and flexible solution. With BusinessObjects XI, it is now keen to extend its offerings to government and healthcare authorities in India to help track outbreaks of H1N1at a regional and national level. This offering would also provide a mechanism to allow integration and simplify the logistical management of medications to tackle the outbreak, said Franz Aman, vice president product marketing, SAP BusinessObjects.

SAP has historically has a large footprint in the healthcare and government sectors. Many government and healthcare providers use SAP BusinessObjects BI solutions today to provide easier, more comprehensive access to data, regardless of its format or origin.

Healthcare providers use SAP BusinessObjects BI to gain insight into patient data so that they can prescribe a more accurate treatment, comply with HIPPA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) reporting requirements and operate all aspects of their organization more efficiently. It can identify any problem areas to intervene quickly. Government organizations are using SAP BusinessObjects include: measure the effectiveness of diplomatic programs, track and analyze crime statistics, better manage cases for welfare and Medicaid clients, and improve efficiency and transparency for budgeting and financial processes, said Aman. The SAP BusinessObjects BI solution is available for organizations of any size.