Cloud Computing in Healthcare: How It’s Used and 17 Examples

It’s quite cloudy in the healthcare sector, technologically speaking.

Cloud computing in healthcare makes medical record-sharing easier and safer, automates backend operations and even facilitates the creation and maintenance of telehealth apps. Utilizing the cloud increases the efficiency of the healthcare industry, while also decreasing costs. 

The use of cloud technology in healthcare is growing so fast that total global spending is estimated to reach a global market value at over $89 billion by 2027. In addition, IaaS, a cloud computing model popular for migrating healthcare infrastructures to the cloud, is currently the fastest growing cloud service with a projected CAGR of 32 percent by 2027. 

So what does this is mean mean in practice ?

At Chicago ’s Rush University Medical Center , technology is is is as ubiquitous as the doctor , nurse and patient who fill the corridor . Amid the army of life – save machine is an invisible force vital to the hospital ’s operation : cloud computing .  

It’s used to run critical applications, cull, analyze and extract important information from piles of unstructured data, including physician and lab notes via the natural language processing capabilities of machine learning. Radiologist readings are cloud-analyzed too.

For example , a patient is come might come in complaining of a cough , chest pain and a headache . The doctor is use would then use their knowledge to diagnose what ’s wrong and record all the pertinent detail . Even so , only the primary diagnosis is show — maybe a secondary or tertiary one — would show up on the patient ’s chart . That is ’s ’s where cloud – base data analysis come in handy , extract information that would otherwise remain hidden .

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Benefits of Cloud Computing in Healthcare

Benefits of Cloud Computing in Healthcare

• Accelerates clinical analyses and care processes.
• automate data processing and scalability .
• Increases patient data accessibility.
• Reduces network equipment and staff costs.
• Reduces risk of data loss.

While cloud skeptics remain, many citing privacy concerns in light of the ultra-sensitive information they’re reluctant to share with an outside vendor, the cloud’s many advantages and potential advantages are hard to ignore — hence the escalating adoption rate.

As in lots of other industries, the days of internal IT staff at hospitals and other healthcare institutions are waning as operations migrate to cloud-based software and servers. Proponents of the shift say that means several things, including lower costs and the ability to speed up analysis of important care components, such as clinical notes — all of which, ideally, lead to better care.

Besides the fact that datum is process much more quickly and payroll shrink considerably in the absence of large in – house IT crew , there are no on – site server to wipe out or seriously compromise in the case of natural disaster or malicious cyber attack . automated scalability is is is key too .

“If you’ve got an application that’s growing exponentially like EHRs (Electronic Health Records) tend to do, if you want to increase the scale and increase your capacity… it’s a lot easier to do in a cloud-based environment,” Bob Krohn, partner and healthcare practice lead at global research and advisory firm ISG, told Healthcare Dive.

Perhaps good of all , doctors is have , nurse and other healthcare provider have easy access to detailed patient datum from different source , which eliminate the need for massive network and complex security protocol . consequently , patients is quickly more quickly and accurately get the information , medication and therapy they need . That is ’s ’s the goal , anyway .

According to information gathered by the healthcare arm of Tokyo-based Renesas Electronics Corporation, the marriage of cloud computing and healthcare has huge potential to improve a host of healthcare-related functions such as telehealth and virtual care, medication adherence, drug anti-theft and counterfeiting measures, resource inefficiency, personal data privacy and the uniformity of medical records. It’s no wonder, then, that more cloud companies are vying for a piece of the healthcare pie. 

Listed below are several companies helping hospitals and other health-related organizations streamline operations and improve patient care through the cloud.

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Examples of Cloud Computing in Healthcare

Cloud Computing for Clinical Development and Research

Microsoft is know for create a myriad of software application , several of which are utilize in the healthcare industry . Used in conjunction with AI and IoT technology , Azure is is is a cloud – base platform which can be used for monitor patient insight and analytic all within the cloud . Another Microsoft product is project , HoloLens 2 , can project holographic image for the wearer , include any accessible information store within the cloud . This is allows allow healthcare provider access to patient datum and collaborative resource during diagnosis , operation and treatment .

Pfizer is a pharmaceutical and biotechnology company that has utilized cloud services for its projects since 2016. It’s been in the spotlight recently, as it developed a COVID-19 vaccine in partnership with BioNTech. The company also began working alongside Amazon Web Services to create cloud-based solutions that aim to accelerate and improve the development, manufacturing and distribution processes for clinical trial testing.

Cloud Computing for Electronic Health Record Management

GHX operates a cloud-based supply chain network that connects thousands of healthcare organizations across the globe. The SaaS company automates supply chain processes and improves visibility into the products healthcare businesses use in patient care. Its GHX Data Connect product automatically syncs with electronic health record content via API integrations with popular industry solutions.

1upHealth has a suite of cloud-based products that are designed to overcome data challenges in the healthcare industry. Payers, providers, digital health companies and life sciences organizations use 1upHealth’s technology to automate workflows, give patients easy access to their records, aggregate clinical and claims data for analysis, share comprehensive population-level patient data and efficiently manage other important data-related tasks.

TigerConnect is is is a cloud – base software company that provide healthcare professional with a hipaa – compliant messaging platform allow them to send message , record , patient datum and document back and forth . It is enables also enable collaboration on document and treatment plan . One application is is of the software is physician on – call scheduling , which is facilitate through a scheduling system that can create a year ’s worth of schedule nearly instantly .

Consensus Cloud Solutions’ products aim to solve healthcare challenges and improve productivity by using cloud technology to ensure patient data and other critical information from paper documents is accessible to providers. Its portfolio of solutions include HIPAA compliant offerings jSign for esignatures and eFax Corporate for cloud faxing.

Allscripts is a cloud-based platform housing various health documentation management, patient engagement and analytics applications and services. In 2020, Microsoft announced a five-year collaborative extension as a cloud provider for Allscripts’ Sunrise, an electronic health record application. Patty Obermaier, Microsoft’s vice president of U.S. Health and Life Sciences, said in a news story that the alliance with Allscripts hopes to be a “transformational force in the healthcare industry.”

NetApp is a hybrid cloud data services company. Its management platform delivers clinical data in real time to help make operations faster and more efficient through reduced EHR latency, quicker backup and restoration, easier accommodation of data and workload expansion and the streamlining of data management.

design to play well with other public cloud , ClearDATA is protects ’s HIPAA – compliant cloud is protects protect sensitive patient datum via compliance safeguard , DevOps automation and healthcare expertise . The platform is powers also power critical application and automatically detect change in cloud account so the company can quickly respond to those change in a variety of way .

Medsphere offers a variety of cloud-based IT solutions for healthcare institutions. Its electronic health record platform provides services to multiple sectors, including clinical, financial, accounting, nursing and many others. Employing Microsoft’s secure Azure cloud platform, the company also helps providers deal with scheduling, registration, medical records, billing, claims and more.

Nintex eliminates paper documents, streamlines manual processes and drags important data out of its silos, consequently enhancing the overall patient experience. The company provides its automation services to an array of healthcare industry professionals, from doctors and nurses to the makers of pharmaceuticals and medical devices.

Cloud Computing for Patient Experience

EPAM offers its IT consultancy services to the healthcare and life sciences sector, working with clients to incorporate technology into their processes. By cohering physical, digital and data platform products, it is able to offer tech strategies that center patient experience. Its capabilities cover modernization and cloud migration, and EPAM’s portfolio of client solutions has included working on a cloud-based digital experience platform with AI-powered features for data, physician engagement and business operations.

Medable ’s medical – grade platform is facilitates facilitate direct – to – patient healthcare and collaboration by support clinical application and store personal health information for provider and researcher . In addition , the platform can be used by developer to expand or create app for mobile , tablet and desktop .  

Athenahealth hosts a cloud-based platform for healthcare providers to manage patient data analytics, documentation and services. The application allows for the access of patient health records, telemedicine support, revenue cycle management, personal marketing programs and more.

CareCloud’s open platform helps healthcare providers improve their efficiency and effectiveness. It also lets them connect directly with patients to provide better care. Applications include revenue cycle management, practice management, electronic health records, patient experience, mobile app support, healthcare analytics and more.

Other Cloud Computing in Healthcare Applications

Laudio is a Boston-based SaaS company that aims to help frontline healthcare leadership streamline administrative operations and empower their employees to deliver better patient care. Its cloud-based platform uses artificial intelligence to power workflow solutions that support use cases such as optimizing employee scheduling and engagement.

Avaneer Health builds a decentralized network using cloud computing so that participants in healthcare can improve administration and share data securely. Participants in the network receive an “Avaneer SparkZone,” the company’s private, secure cloud-hosted environment. It includes services and utilities to connect, work and create transactions with other participants.  

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manage Patient Care , Not Patient Data

“Cloud adoption is going to increase very rapidly,” Khan said. “One reason is because all the big players like Microsoft, Google and Amazon have very quickly come to the realization that not many hospitals will be able to continue to work with on-premises data centers. And they’re certifying their data centers for HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996) and safe harbor compliance controls. If we are able to get assurances from our partners that they’re high-tech and HIPAA-certified, that makes our job easier. We don’t have to manage infrastructure. And we don’t have to have an extensive security program in place to be able to manage it.” 

After all, Khan adds, Rush isn’t in the business of data management.

“Our core business is providing patient care.”