Five Major Benefits of the Cloud for the Healthcare Sector
How Cloud Computing Enables Industry Advancements
When it comes to staying on top of industry trends, those in the healthcare sector utilizing cloud computing will undoubtedly have an advantage over those slow to adapt to change. The Internet is more widely used now by both patients and those providing health services.
Today’s patient desires anytime/anywhere access to health-related information and physicians may need access to digitized health data such as MRI scans, ultrasound images, or mammograms. Patient information must also be accessed for clinical decision-making such as potential prescription drug interactions or the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) funded community health information exchanges (HIEs) that enable health providers and insurers to share a patient’s medical records with his or her permission. The cloud supports all of these.
In many ways, cloud computing levels the playing field as its affordable benefits are available to anyone from a small physician’s office or non-profit to large organizations or insurers. This fosters an all-inclusive collaboration that isn’t restricted to only large institutional players.
Major Benefits of the Cloud for the Healthcare Sector
- Security – Ironically, the biggest concern most healthcare entities have about taking to the cloud is one of its biggest strengths. Recent updates have made CSPs as responsible and liable for HIPAA compliance as the healthcare institutions that hire them. CSPs must ensure that data is encrypted, backed up, easily recoverable, and secured with permission-based access.
- Costs – Reduced costs are an incentive for healthcare entities to take to the cloud. Costs are dramatically cut since the cloud moves everything into a virtual environment, eliminating the need for costly hardware, software, maintenance, data center space, and IT labor. Pay-as- you-use fees requiring little-to-no capital investment replace these often overwhelming up-front capital expenses.
- Scalability – With the 2015 HER conversion deadline nearing, and the fact that health service providers are generally required to maintain patient medical records for at least six years, it’s easy to anticipate that managing such a high volume of patient data will inevitably stress any on-site IT infrastructure. But the cloud presents a scalable alternative where additional server or storage capacity is available as needed.
- Mobility – The cloud improves a physician’s ability to remotely access readily available patient information. This enables even the busiest physician to review a patient’s medical records or test results even after they leave the office.
- Sharing – Cloud computing keeps physicians better connected to not just their patients but their colleagues as well. Patients will notice benefits to medical professionals being able to share patient information online – for example, referrals to specialists will be more timely, there will be less paperwork to fill out with each office visit, and no unnecessary repeat diagnostic tests.
Are You Ready for This Transition?
The transition to cloud computing is underway in the industry. For healthcare service providers, it is no longer a question of if they will transition to the cloud, but when they can start benefiting from its potential savings and all of its capabilities.
Healthcare is a heavily regulated industry and cloud computing will continue to evolve to meet the industry’s growing security requirements and regulatory mandates. Many legitimate CSPs familiar with the healthcare sector already have strict security protocols in place to comply with regulations and will not hesitate to sign a BAA when asked. It is best to choose a CSP cautiously. Avoid any CSP who refuses to sign a BAA and carefully evaluate even those who do to get a feel for their stability, level of service, and delivery on promises.
Taking care of people – not your IT infrastructure – is your core service. Why not put the money being spent right now on hardware, software and equipment back into patient care while actually strengthening patient data integrity and security? Contact us today if you’d like to learn more about HIPAA compliant cloud-based technology.
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