Today’s patient expects expedient healthcare, and this can be enabled through the adoption of cloud computing technology within the Healthcare sector. From availability and accessibility of data to its virtually endless scalability, the cloud offers an array of benefits for the healthcare industry and the patients, it serves. Cloud computing is a flexible solution that affords healthcare organizations the opportunity to leverage the latest technology to make healthcare more efficient, patient focused, and scalable, all the while increasing patient data security and reducing overall costs. 

Sounds too good to be true, but it’s not. 

How Does Cloud Computing Benefit Healthcare Organizations 

1. Effective Data Security 

It is no secret that the sensitive patient information held in medical records require enhanced security measures, not to mention security standards that meet the staggering demand of regulatory compliance standards such as HIPAA. As hackers increasingly target healthcare organizations, more and more healthcare organizations are moving towards hybrid cloud solutions—cloud solutions that utilize both public and private cloud solutions—in order to maximize both flexibility and ease of use with heightened security measures.  

The cloud can increase the ability to protect valuable patient health records. For example, prior to the cloud, if a device containing sensitive health information was stolen or lost, that would have automatically meant a damaging security breach.  However, the cloud means that the computer can be remotely wiped and the information protected.   

The enhanced redundancy within the cloud also adds to security measures provided to healthcare organizations.  With the automation of backups through the cloud, there are increased disaster recovery options in the event of a breach, loss of power, or natural disaster. This minimizes downtime for staff as well as reducing the effects of bad outcomes. With the cloud, IT departments can maintain seamless business continuity and patient care. 

2. Decreased Data Storage Costs 

Having to host on-site data centers to store patient health information (PHI) not only requires a substantial upfront investment in hardware but also comes with the extra hassles of having space for all of that hardware, the resources to maintain the servers, and providing cooling solutions for the hardware.  

Cloud computing solutions handle the administration, construction, and maintenance of cloud data storage services, enabling health care providers to reduce their up-front costs and focus their efforts on the things they do best: caring for patients. 

3. Improved Clinician Collaboration and Patient Care 

The implementation of cloud storage for electronic medical records has streamlined the process of collaborative patient care in America. Cloud-based medical records have made it easier for doctors to collaboratively view or share a patient’s medical records. In the past, a patient might have a separate file for medical records at each doctor they visit – some records at their family doctor, some kept by a dentist, some at one specialist’s office and some at another. 

The widespread use of cloud-based patient care documentation makes it easier for doctors to share information with each other, see the results of interactions between other physicians and the patient and provide care that considers what the patient has experienced with other doctors in the past. 

4. More Patient Access to their Health Care Records 

Just as the implementation of cloud storage for electronic health records has streamlined the way doctors access to records, through the adoption of patient portals, patients also have greater access to their healthcare information. They can, from any location, receive valuable information, such as lab results, from any location. Patients can receive the information they need to make informed decisions about their healthcare in a much more efficient manner.  The use of cloud computing and patient portals also makes it easier for caregivers to help their patients.  For example, perhaps a patient is aging and suffers from dementia and is unable to remember when they have appointments or exactly what medicine they take.  Their child or caregiver, or whomever they have given permission to, can access their information and take better care of them. 

5. Enhanced Medical Research 

In the same way that cloud computing will enable health care providers to leverage big data and analytics in administration of their facilities, medical researchers of the future will benefit significantly from the digitization of health care information through cloud-based data storage. 

In addition to the accumulation of massive data sets, the cloud allows medical researchers to leverage massive amounts of computing power that were previously inaccessible. It used to be that medical researchers who wanted to analyze a large data set would have to request time at one of the nation’s supercomputing centers, waiting weeks on a waiting list before getting their chance.  With the cloud, researchers can leverage supercomputer-like analytical power on their own time, and at a fraction of the cost. 

As the advantages of cloud computing in healthcare become apparent to your organization, rest assured that pim has experience in the healthcare industry, providing secure, scalable, and efficient cloud services through ProActive Cloud. pim seeks to offer peace of mind to the healthcare provider by providing world class security and service.