Given the growing demand for modern technology solutions on-site at healthcare facilities, and the financial and regulatory pressures to modernize, it should come as no surprise that cloud adoption in healthcare has risen over the years. This article takes a look at where adoption stands today and sums previous challenges as well as current trends in the industry.
Cloud Adoption on the Rise As Barriers Fade
In its “Market Guide for Cloud Service Providers to Healthcare Delivery Organizations” (as reported on by HIT Infrastructure), Gartner captures cloud’s growth trajectory in this sector. Previously, HIPAA compliance challenges, difficulty adhering to standards like SSAE 16 Type II and HITRUST, security concerns, and overall skepticism of cloud proved to be barriers for adoption. However, it appears many of these challenges are beginning to subside, and as a result, cloud computing has been ever-present over the past decade in healthcare, and will “continue to undergo steady evolution in the coming years.”
Compliance Support for Healthcare Organizations
Some factors influencing this growth? As HIT Infrastructure reports, “Healthcare organizations are now embracing the cloud as more and more vendors are willing to sign business associate agreements to protect patient data.” Simply put, there are more options available in the market today that can help healthcare organizations remain compliant while migrating infrastructure to the cloud.
And, as a result of this growth, many healthcare players are seeing significant benefits including cost cutting opportunities, increased efficiencies, and scalability, which only further drive up the demand for cloud-based solutions. So much so, it is said that healthcare organizations today have a “continued dependence” on the technology as they outgrow outdated on-premise infrastructure.
In other research on the topic, analyst firm IDC demonstrated 14.9% growth in IT infrastructure in a survey capturing the trend among all major industries, including healthcare. It should come as no surprise, then, that healthcare cloud budgets are also said to be on the rise, with an average growth of up to 11-30%.
Cloud Resources for Healthcare Organizations
The major trend toward cloud adoption in healthcare aside, the decision to migrate is still a huge undertaking for any healthcare organization. As the previously mentioned data demonstrates, it wasn’t until cloud service providers really started to cater to the industry’s unique security requirements that adoption started to take hold. To assist in your evaluation of cloud, we’ve assembled some related reading on topic of cloud for healthcare. Our cloud specialists are also here to help – contact us today.
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