“Then we compare it with our large archive of historical information to figure out where we stand. When statistics for a particular symptom exceed standard deviation, we know we’ve got a problem on our hands. From there, we do our due diligence to notify local, state and federal organizations like the CDC about swine flu growth patterns and any geographic spreading of the virus we’re able to forecast, so that they can help inform the public.

SAP BusinessObjects BI solutions enable us to do all of this quickly, and it’s helped us save lives. By having the right amount of medical resources available to patients in the most urgent times, we can provide proper treatment and help mitigate the spreading of the virus.”

In order to determine where medical resources are needed most, EMA uses SAP BusinessObjects BI solutions to collect data from 1.2 million patients annually. With detailed diagnosis information pulled from 1,300 monthly reports, EMA shares that it is able to set specific targets and alarm notifications for when swine flu-related symptom data exceeds standard-deviation thresholds.

Consequently, EMA can take action by alerting local hospitals and federal organizations to their discoveries, so that they can use the information to prepare for outbreaks.

So far, the experience appears to be worth the effort.

With increased access to more reliable information, EMA has been able to measure and analyze physician performance, determine the best way to allocate resources in times of crisis and reduce the number of patients who leave emergency rooms before receiving care – critical issues when diseases like swine flu are spreading. With BI solutions, patients in the EMA network move more quickly into treatment rooms, wait less time to see doctors and spend less time in emergency rooms overall.

This has helped increase the number of patients seen per physician per hour and reduce the per-visit cost for patients.

In short, a BI tool has helped save EMA time by bringing together information from several disparate systems so that end users can make sense of clinical data, operational data, financial data and satisfaction data.
“Since EMA’s end users include physicians, nurses and researchers, the organization needed software that could give people access to information in formats they were accustomed to working with, regardless of their technical skill level,” it shares.

Today, EMA’s 27 dashboards and 30 daily on-demand reports are at end users’ fingertips via an intuitive interface that resembles commonly used spreadsheets.

And So…

BI or R&D; drug discovery or vaccine distribution; passing the right information or controlling unwarranted panic; surveillance or a global medical drive for universal Influenza virus, looks like technology will be a good aide in combating the satan of H1N1 influenza virus that has killed over 3900 people and spread over 190 countries since its discovery in Mexico and the U.S. in April.

Preventive or Reactive, the world is watching and waiting for a quick Rx for sure.
So, what’s your opinion on the role of technology played so far?