Enterprise software behemoth SAP is developing an EMR app for hospitals, according to a report over at ZDNet. The company plans to make the app commercially available at the end of October. An Android version is set to follow sometime next year.
SAP unveiled the app, which has been in development for the past three months, during a webinar that was broadcast last week. The EMR's feature set includes access to patient records, medication history, radiology images, medical allergies and a real-time view of patient vital signs that alerts doctors to abnormal levels.
SAP is currently piloting the app in three unnamed European hospitals. The company previously released the Collaborative eCare app, which allows patients with chronic conditions to upload medical data that can then be viewed by their caregiver.
According to the ZDNet article, the next version of the app will include software for offline access of medical data, intended for network “dead spots” found within hospitals -- which may raise some concerns about the security of patient information temporarily stored on the device. Also expected for the app's future is the ability for physicians to take photos using the iPad and upload them to the patient records database, as well as enter diagnostic notes and capture vital sign data.
Another large company, GE, recently launched their EMR app Centricity. That app is an extension of GE Healthcare’s web-based Centricity Advance EMR offering, which focuses on practices with less than ten physicians. The app was demo'd at this year’s HIMSS conference.
An additional EMR app developer that has been in the news recently is DrChrono, who announced two rounds of seed funding this summer. ClearPractice also released their EMR iPad app, called Nimble, as well as an EMR offering that works across various Apple devices called Eden. Finally, Epic took its iPhone EMR app Haiku and redesigned it for the iPad’s larger form factor. The resulting app, called Canto, hit the AppStore last June.
You can read more about SAP's soon to be launched iPad EMR app over at ZDNet here.
