The experts from Gartner mention that 50% of enterprises found cloud technology indispensable or heavily impactful in 2022. 90% of the same enterprises said clouds would become indispensable in 2027. There is not much time left to check this prediction. But even now, the global revenue of the top cloud vendors proves the tendency. In this post, healthtech businesses will find arguments for implementing cloud computing in healthcare solutions for healthcare organizations.
Medical providers do not have enough expertise and resources to hire and support a team of competent IT staff. Experts from the Harvard Business Review suggest healthcare companies partner with technological firms. Thus, the Mayo Clinic signed a contract with Google for 10 years. Such cooperation will accelerate the implementation of digital advancements, such as cloud migration within the clinic, and improve the delivery of healthcare. The migration process involves outlining the roadmap, selecting the migration strategy, and handling the aftermath bugs. A tech partner makes all those processes seamless and without significantly distracting the staff from their routine.
The Belitsoft software development company aids healthtech providers to migrate to NET core. It allows the laters to offer cross-platform solutions to clinics and hospitals. The .NET core is a platform created by Microsoft. It is now widely used for developing cloud applications on the top cloud platforms, such as Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud, or AWS. Among the advantages of the .NET core, developers mention that it is open source, scalable, compatible with any device, and lightweight.
Dmitry Baraishuk is the Chief Innovation Officer (CINO) with twenty years of experience in healthtech. He admits that cloud migration can be successfully performed in a company with a micro-change management approach. Small steps demand modest resources and demonstrate tangible results faster. Therefore, business leaders control cloud migration expenses and experience immediate performance improvements.
A staffing shortage of competent IT specialists is a serious issue among medical providers. Hiring qualified experts and further retaining them might become a challenge. That is why hospitals and medical centers refer to cloud vendors to maintain the workloads remotely. Another option is partnering with healthtech firms. They provide several experts for short-term tasks or a whole IT team for the migration process and post-migration maintenance. Developers in the team of an outsourced partner usually have sufficient expertise in dealing with similar projects, and they work in close cooperation with the internal specialists.
Cloud-based programs make the routine of physicians easier and more convenient. For instance, electronic health records (EHR) located in the cloud are accessible from any location. That implies medical experts do not have to physically change their location to refer to the health histories of their patients. Flexible EHR software fits the requirements of every medical provider and integrates into the internal workflows. Well-built and successfully performing tools result in a well-coordinated healthcare ecosystem with easy information sharing.
On-premises architectures fail to scale fast when an urgent demand appears. Medical enterprises have to purchase additional servers to plan for peak capacity. It requires time and investment, which does not pay off in the lulls of activity. The scalability of the cloud providers allows for automatic resource pooling, such as storage, computing, or networking assets in case of overloads.
Healthcare organizations report an increase in their budget allocation to AI projects. AI technologies improve the performance in healthcare administration, interpretation of medical images and test results, and diagnosis. Cloud-based software processes large volumes of data. For example, supplementing cloud EHR solutions with data analytics tools and AI helps to examine the data, learn from it, and provide insights based on it. AI speeds up medical decisions, minimizes human errors, and assists in routine tasks. A combination of cloud technologies and AI results in products like Microsoft DAX Copilot. It helps physicians to relieve stress as the tool takes notes during their appointments with patients. Therefore, doctors do not distract from diagnosing patients, and a more careful and trusting conversation takes place.
Cloud technologies allow patients to actively participate in the process of supporting their health and general well-being. First, patients can switch medical providers without the risk of losing their health records, as cloud EHRs are accessible from any location. Second, patients benefit from the digital front door solution. That is a cloud platform where patients check the slots of their physicians’ schedules and make appointments. They also track the status of the lab results. Patients receive notifications about upcoming appointments. Such platforms also contain educational and instructional information for patients and, in general, promote patients’ active engagement in their health condition.
Practitioners access the information of the EHRs and clinical decision support systems (CDSS). They can share the data and consult their colleagues regarding the preferable method of diagnosis or the type of intensive support. It leads to mutual cooperation and faster decision-making. Besides, cloud storage is convenient for medical students and scientific research. Embedded analytical and computing powers of the software enable quick analysis of the data and insights.
Cloud-based platforms allow patients to share the results of the tests with their doctors and wait for their comments. This is something known as ‘asynchronous telemedicine’. Participating in video calls with practitioners is the ‘synchronous’ type of telemedicine. Such remote appointments are convenient for both patients and doctors. The first ones do not have to commute to hospitals, the latter can perform more consultations during the day. According to Deloitte, remote care contributes to providing healthcare outside the walls of hospitals and clinics. Online consultations, together with the data from wearable devices and self-taken tests, lead to the timely detection of diseases.
Modern trends in healthcare demand a “phygital approach” to delivering services. It means patients receive physical aid in combination with technological assistance. Cloud adoption in healthcare brings accessible systems, competent IT staff, and AI and data analytics capabilities to medical providers. As a result, the stakeholders work in close cooperation to improve the general level of healthcare.
