SAP user group calls for support deadline reprieve amid hospital billing worries

The German-speaking SAP personification group has called connected nan European package elephantine to widen support for a master manufacture solution based connected its ageing ECC level amid fears of disruption to infirmary billing processes successful Germany, Switzerland and Austria.

The SAP billing solution IS-H is based connected ECC, an ERP level introduced astir 30 years ago, and is wide utilized by hospitals successful nan German-speaking world. Mainstream support for nan solution, on pinch ECC, is group to extremity successful 2027, while extended attraction is apt to beryllium disposable astatine a costs until 2030.

User group DSAG said that only successful June did SAP opportunity it would let 3rd parties to create a successor to IS-H via a licence statement pinch partners specified arsenic T-Systems Austria.

However, nan replacement IS-H solution is only disposable for customers who person already moved, aliases are astir to move to S/4HANA, DSAG argued.

Customers still connected ECC will person to upgrade to S/4HANA earlier ECC mainstream support runs retired to use from nan caller third-party solution, giving users small clip for nan migration of halfway package captious to nan moving of nan organization. DSAG, therefore, has called for SAP to widen support for ECC for these customers astatine nary other charge.

Unrealistic migration schedule

Walter Schinnerer, DSAG committee personnel Austria, said successful bid to debar costly extended maintenance, clinics and hospitals would person to switch IS-H and their SAP ERP strategy wrong 3 years.

"Although nan caller solution should beryllium disposable from 2025, it will surely beryllium difficult for T-Systems Austria and each affected companies to person migrated earlier nan extremity of mainstream attraction for IS-H successful 2027. After all, this besides goes manus successful manus pinch a erstwhile S/4HANA introduction," he said.

"This schedule is not only very ambitious, but simply unrealistic. It takes astir 2 years conscionable to tender for an IS-H successor solution. Then each that remains is implementation, basal adjustments and information migration," Schinnerer said.

"Since SAP has changed its ain manufacture strategy, nan package shaper should now do thing to guarantee that it does not wholly suffer customer trust. A first measurement would beryllium to connection extended attraction astatine nary other complaint for nan continuation of nan usage of nan erstwhile manufacture solution SAP Patient Management (IS-H)," he said.

More than 95 percent of each patients treated successful Austria successful nan inpatient and outpatient areas are affected, DSAG said. Without a caller solution, nary patients tin beryllium admitted, nary services tin beryllium described, nary discharges tin beryllium carried retired and nary billing tin beryllium carried out, nan personification group said.

SAP has agreed that 3rd parties tin create nan infirmary manufacture solution straight connected S/4HANA, nan in-memory ERP strategy launched successful 2015, which tin beryllium deployed on-prem aliases successful nan cloud. However, its preferred method for creating industry-specific package is via its Business Technology Platform, nan cloud-based improvement environment. Users successful nan region did not want to deploy nan caller solution successful nan unreality owed to section legislation, DSAG said.

In a connection to The Reg, an SAP spokesperson said SAP's merchandise and attraction strategy remains unchanged. "Healthcare is strategically important for SAP. We are successful changeless and adjacent speech pinch our customers and partners from nan healthcare strategy to thief them stay businesslike moreover successful uncertain times.

"Our extremity for nan future, based connected feedback from our customers and successful statement pinch SAP's strategy, is to supply a modular strategy successful which SAP contributes solutions for ERP processes and analytics, among different things, successful first-class quality."

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"For diligent billing and objective processes, we are giving our customers state of choice, including deployment, by providing infirmary accusation strategy vendors pinch further industry-standard supporting interfaces and, successful general, nan SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP) arsenic an hold level from adjacent year.

"SAP besides maintains its existing commitments for nan SAP Patient Management (IS-H) solution; nan merchandise is based connected SAP Business Suite and frankincense follows its existent attraction commitment. Our customers are frankincense designing their modular infirmary IT strategy of nan future," nan spokesperson said. ®