Cloud Computing for Healthcare

Use cases for the cloud computing architecture include:

• Providing access to browser-based EHRs and EMRs with end-to-end encryption in either: 1) Tightly controlled private clouds 2)Non-private clouds only if the patient identifiers are stored in encrypted data files (in the cloud or in local storage).
• Storing de-identified patient data in centralized databases for public access or for restricted access by authorized persons (e.g., for research purposes).
• Storing practice guidelines in public clouds.
• Home monitoring, whereby data from measurement devices (e.g., a glucometer) are streamed to a provider’s private cloud with end-to-end encryption.
• CRM, business intelligence, content management and research-based applications in private clouds with end-to-end encryption.
• Hosting Web conferences to dispersed audiences.
• Enabling real-time collaboration in private clouds with patient data encrypted end-to-end or in public clouds with de-identified patient data only.

Some of them above are fine use cases and the industry should be using them already. There are lots of potential for healthcare in the cloud and it not only makes the access to healthcare ubiquitous but also cuts down the costs drastically.

Cloud Computing is important to streamline healthcare whether it is for maintaining health records, monitoring of patients, collaboration with peers, even analysis of data, etc.. With further maturation of security in Cloud Computing, we will see more and more of healthcare tapping into the cloud. At the same time, the governments in different countries should smarten up their regulatory policies to suit the modern technology so that both businesses and patients can take advantage of them.

Excerpts from Krishnan Subramanian, Healthcare and Cloud Computing.

Category: Cloud Computing