Transforming antibiotic stewardship, patient care and resource management with AI
SAS allows doctors to make more informed decisions.
Improved antibiotic stewardship
Frankfurt University Hospital achieved this using • SAS® Visual Analytics • SAS® Visual Statistics • SAS® Viya® on Amazon Web Services
What if a hospital could predict a surge in flu cases weeks before patients arrive? Or identify trends in the development of antibiotic resistance in real time? At Frankfurt University Hospital, these aren’t hypotheticals. They’re part of a bold transformation to reimagine health care with data and AI.
Frankfurt University Hospital in Germany is a leader in clinical care, research and education. As a tertiary referral center, it treats some of the most complex and critically ill patients in the region. But like many institutions across Europe, it faces growing pressure from aging populations, limited resources and rising antibiotic resistance. “A lot of our patients are already treated by other colleagues before they arrive at the university hospital; therefore, we have a higher rate of antibiotic resistance that we diagnose in our patients," says Dr. Michael von Wagner, Chief Medical Information Officer at Frankfurt University Hospital. "We have a lot of patients with deeply suppressed immune systems. We needed to act early to preserve our most potent weapons in the fight against infectious diseases.”
I’m very happy that we can now implement analytics tools that help us act earlier and avoid complications. This approach lets us move faster and find new ways to help patients.Dr. Michael von Wagner Chief Medical Information Officer Frankfurt University Hospital
Combatting antibiotic resistance
Antibiotic resistance occurs when bacteria evolve to survive exposure to antibiotics that would normally kill them or stop their growth. This resistance develops naturally over time due to the overuse and misuse of antibiotics in both human medicine and agriculture.
The consequences are serious. Infections that were once easily treatable become harder, and sometimes impossible, to cure. This leads to longer hospital stays, increased mortality and higher medical costs. Globally, antibiotic resistance is considered one of the biggest threats to public health, with studies suggesting it contributes to roughly 5 million deaths per year. It undermines the effectiveness of treatments and increases the risk of disease spread, severe illness and death.
To address these challenges, Frankfurt University Hospital partnered with SAS to launch a pilot project in antibiotic stewardship. The goal? Building a flexible, AI-powered dashboard that tracks trends in antibiotic use and resistance and supports clinical decision-making.
“We needed a solution that already showed dashboard functionality and allows us to develop alerting systems and clinical decision support,” Dr. von Wagner explains.
SAS Viya, deployed on AWS, provided the scalability and interoperability the hospital needed. The dashboard integrates data from hundreds of systems, enabling alerting and decision support tools that will help clinicians choose the right antibiotics at the right time Notably, Frankfurt University Hospital maintains full compliance with data protection and security regulations.
“SAS Viya on AWS is an optimal combination for introducing modern AI-based analytics in the cloud to the clinical environment with minimal local IT burden,” says Jens Dommel, Head of Healthcare EMEA at AWS.
The cloud platform supports rapid integration of clinical data sources, real-time analytics and advanced AI capabilities, making it ideal for initiatives like the hospital’s antibiotic stewardship program. This collaboration not only accelerates innovation but also strengthens digital sovereignty and improves patient outcomes through faster, data-driven decisions. Core4Tec has also played an important role in this project by providing consulting services.
SAS Viya on AWS is an optimal combination for introducing modern AI-based analytics in the cloud to the clinical environment with minimal local IT burden.Jens Dommel Head of Healthcare AWS, EMEA Region
Optimizing resources with a command center
The success of the stewardship project laid the groundwork for broader innovation across the hospital. The hospital’s command center uses predictive analytics to optimize resource planning across departments. “We have limited resources in hospitals,” says Dr. von Wagner. “That’s the case all over the world. We must deal with our resources very efficiently.”
By forecasting patient volumes and care needs for the state of Hessen during the pandemic, the hospital reduced unused resources by 40% and can now take those learnings and apply them to its everyday hospital operations. Data protection and security were maintained at all times.
For all the hospital’s AI initiatives, trust is essential to successful adoption. “Trustworthiness is not one issue: It’s a broad spectrum of different aspects we have to deal with,” says Dr. von Wagner. By ensuring transparency in how AI models are trained and providing clear explanations for their outputs, the hospital empowers clinicians to make informed decisions with confidence.
Democratizing data access for physicians
SAS Viya’s flexibility and cloud-native architecture were key to the hospital’s modernization strategy. “We’re moving toward a hybrid approach,” Dr. von Wagner says. “SAS Viya allows us to connect cloud solutions with our on-prem infrastructure.”
The platform also democratizes data access. Dr. von Wagner emphasizes how taking this step of opening the platform to a larger user group will help reduce analysis time. He mentions that the hospital is currently working on a command center for each hospital ward, so resources can be shared between departments and establish multi-resource management tools. This allows the hospital to treat patients more efficiently, optimize its data processes and manage limited resources during peak illness seasons.
Frankfurt University Hospital – Facts & Figures
32
departments
10
specialized centers
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institutes
Measurable impact across the hospital
Since implementing SAS Viya, Frankfurt University Hospital has seen a slew of results, including:
- Faster, more informed clinical decisions through AI-powered dashboards.
- Improved antibiotic stewardship and patient safety.
- Predictive resource planning that reduced unused capacity by 40%.
- Influenza resource predictions 2-3 weeks ahead of patient surge.
- Broader access to analytics across departments and specialties.
- Data protection and security compliance.
Dr. von Wagner believes the key to building a data-driven culture is helping people become familiar with the new technologies and the benefits they offer. “We have to start with simple questions and benefits,” he says. “Once people see what’s possible, they’ll want more education and data solutions. But it starts with clinicians experiencing how AI can help.”
With SAS Viya, Frankfurt University Hospital is poised to implement real-time alerting systems and expand AI support across specialties. “We’re combining economic and health data, ICU and lab data… things you’d never find in one solution,” Dr. von Wagner says. “This approach lets us move faster and find new ways to help patients.”
Helping patients sooner and improving outcomes
At its core, University Hospital Frankfurt’s digital transformation isn’t just about data or dashboards – it’s about people. It’s about helping a physician make the right call in a critical moment. It’s about targeting a life-threatening infection before it spirals out of control. It’s about making careful, informed decisions about antibiotic use. “I’m very happy that we can now implement analytics tools that help us act earlier and avoid complications,” says Dr. von Wagner. “This lets us move faster and find new ways to help patients.” With SAS and AWS, the hospital is not only modernizing its systems but also restoring the human connection at the heart of health care, where every insight, every alert and every decision can lead to a better outcome for someone in need.
