IS THE HEALTHCARE INDUSTRY FINALLY MOVING TO CLOUD?
Ever since the healthcare industry has been into place, keeping the patient information safe has been of high importance. When cloud computing was introduced to the healthcare industry, the concept of uploading sensitive information about patients on the internet was majorly seen with a risky eye. Since this kind of information has always been locked safely in a cupboard, healthcare professionals were never ready to put it in just any other vulnerable position.
EVOLUTION OF CLOUD IN HEALTHCARE:
The concept of security has always been linked to control especially in healthcare and that is completely understandable. Medical providers use and save a huge pile of information, right from addresses, patient history, payment records, important credentials, health records, etc. The concern about sensitive information floating casually off the premise creates a chance for getting hacked.
It was only when the cloud computing solutions started offering a significant upgrade in terms of performance and accessing information that healthcare providers started opening up to it. Finally, global healthcare is ready to move to a hybrid cloud model consisting of a mix of on-premise private cloud service and third-party public clouds. In the year 2020, the hybrid cloud base in healthcare is expected to double from 19% to 37%.
So why is there a sudden push for cloud computing in healthcare? Facilities such as storage, performance, configuration, security and network controls have grown since some time for meeting the needs of the healthcare industry. With the Internet of Things becoming increasingly important in healthcare, the cloud-based needs are only expected to grow.
READINESS OF CLOUD FOR HEALTHCARE:
The readiness of the healthcare industry to use the cloud comes with increasing interest to notice the way in which other industries are benefiting from data storage applications. Undoubtedly, healthcare remains averse to risk but organizations are beginning to realize the potential of cloud as compared to other industries.
There’s a rise of healthcare organizations switching to more integrated systems and the readiness of cloud computing makes is the major reason for this kind of integration. This readiness is derived from three standpoints which are dynamic partnerships, healthcare facilities, and team-based collaborative care.
Given all that has been said until now, there are some important benefits that are responsible for the prevalence of cloud computing in the healthcare industry. These reasons are:
- CAPITAL: Most of the healthcare organizations discover a chunk of their cost savings in the reduced capital inlay. This means that there is much less upfront risk for companies that are switching to cloud computing solutions.Based on a survey done by CDW, over 88% of the healthcare organizations using cloud computing have decreased their costs by an average of 20% annually. This reason is big enough to prompt the healthcare industries to adopt cloud computing software.
- INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY REQUIREMENTS: More than half of the industries use cloud computing which provides significant benefits because of IT consolidation, reduction in IT energy, power consumption, etc.The benefits of cloud computing are significant for better functioning of all healthcare providers. The tools and technology that cloud computing services come with help small businesses at a fraction of a cost and the larger businesses can have the benefit of scalability and multi-location accessibility features.
- ACCESSIBILITY: Anytime and anywhere access to the documents and that too right on the go is also a reason for over more than half of organizations use cloud computing. Cloud computing assists in providing access for electronic health records, test results, and other information.This reason makes it valid enough for the healthcare providers sitting in office, hospitals or homes to adopt cloud computing. It makes their work easier and manageable.
- SECURITY: Choosing a reliable cloud-based software provider company can help in protecting personal health information while achieving important compliances. In addition, the cloud computing software also comes with servers, encryption, and backups.The security features make sure that the information stays safe in all ways. This is an important point in the case of healthcare providers. So this is why they are shifting towards cloud computing technology.
- DATA CONTROL: Cloud computing software applications come with exceptional data control policies. Plus if you hire a good web development company in India then there are chances of the data mining policies being strong too.Additionally, any reliable web application development company will house the data well while staying in perfect control of it. So, healthcare providers are in a win-win situation from all aspects.
CONCLUSION:
Given the benefits of the cloud computing healthcare mentioned above, the software providers must be constantly available most of the time. They must also inspect detailed information about the protocol to get a typical response for getting back online.
In addition, healthcare providers must also connect to valid references that are already taking the services of cloud computing service providers. This validation helps in making a decision while choosing a cloud service provider.
Finally, everything boils down to the fact that cloud technologies have the power to assist the healthcare industry to realize a much evolved patient care system. The cloud in the healthcare industry is finally at a point where the rate of innovation in healthcare technology has reached a tipping point. The days that are approaching ahead in the healthcare industry are full of clouds and much better.
