Healthcare Slow to Embrace Cloud

There’s been so much talk about it. And it seems everyone is doing it. “The cloud” has become many businesses’ preferred method of information management and storage.

Cloud computing simply means that information is hosted and stored on the Web.

But there one’s industry that’s not quite so sure about it, or the security of it. While 71 percent of healthcare organizations are either using or looking at the implementation of cloud computing or storage technologies, a new KLAS report shows that “trust in public-cloud services such as those offered by Amazon, Google and others remains weak,” according to a story by Diagnostic Imaging staff.

KLAS says at its Web site that its reports impartially measure healthcare technology vendor performance.

The Diagnostic Imaging writers report that PACS, a technology that stores hundreds of scans each day, providing image access to hundreds of physicians, is an area of particular interest in terms of using the cloud.

“I don’t know that there are a ton of major healthcare providers putting their patient data in the (public) cloud right now. From a liability perspective, it isn’t as mature as some other industries,” The CIO of a facility with more than 1,000 beds told KLAS, the story reports. “That is a major concern for me right now.”

KLAS also noted that patient data security, data privacy and data control are all concerns when considering cloud computing for storing and accessing health care records, according to the story. To work around this, the story says, “A growing number of providers are gravitating toward private clouds, where the use of designated servers strengthens control over their data.”

But some real strengths can also be found through cloud computing. Many healthcare facilities are interested in the disaster-recovery and physical-security advantages of the cloud, according to diagnosticimaging.net. “From a stand-alone practice’s perspective, I am generally scared that I will lose my data. But if it is in the cloud, I know it is more secure,” one physician told KLAS, according to the story.

And there can be benefits for stand-alone facilities such as physician practices, including cost and security concerns, in joining up with larger organizations “to have the use of an electronic health record that is privately hosted in the parent organization’s cloud,” according to the story. But hospitals are a little more reluctant and are only dipping their toes in carefully, for now, according to the story.

Author: Deborah DiSesa Hirsch
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Managing Partner at meshIP, LLC

Brian Byrne is the founder and Managing Partner of Dallas based meshIP, a technology services firm offering cloud computing strategies and services. He is an accomplished executive with senior management experience in all facets of the technology, telecom, cloud computing, and SaaS industries. He has proven success in developing, financing and executing strategic plans as well as launching new ventures. His background includes a record of significant achievement in international business development and his credentials include a MBA in Marketing and Management Strategy from the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University, a MS from the School of Computer Science at DePaul University, and a BBA in Finance from the University of Notre Dame.

He is also the inventor of the patented meshDETECT, Secure Prison Cell Phone Solutions.

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