The cloud is not only a competitive advantage but a new status quo. In fact, the healthcare cloud computing market is expected to grow to $120.6 billion by 2029, up from $53.8 billion in 2024.
As healthcare organizations migrate to the cloud or improve their cloud posture, it’s important to remember that transformation comes with opportunities and challenges alike.
The cloud frees companies from being held back by traditional, outdated systems and three-to-five-year hardware refresh cycles. It also helps healthcare organizations plan and operate around fluctuations in patient demand, like during the pandemic when needs rapidly spiked.
Although the benefits of cloud computing far exceed conventional computing models, there are strategic shifts healthcare IT professionals can make to position teams for significant innovation that drives overall organizational success. Whether migrating to the cloud or improving cloud initiatives, here are a few key steps healthcare IT leaders can take to enhance their organization’s cloud operations.
Improve security posture
Data security is a leading concern for any business, but with the highly sensitive nature of patient data, security practices are even more critical in healthcare. As such, many cloud providers use advanced encryption to help thwart unauthorized users’ access to data while also spreading data across multiple servers to help protect it from potential threats.
Data threats are becoming more sophisticated by the day, prompting action from the US Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights to require organizations to improve their cybersecurity initiatives. The measures include using multifactor authentication and encrypting patient data to help keep it safe should a data breach occur. Additionally, healthcare organizations may soon be required to undergo compliance checks to prove their networks meet cybersecurity rules.
Healthcare organizations should seek a cloud security partner that offers better scalability. This will allow them to adapt their security measures to align with evolving needs and workloads, including fraud detection.
Security platforms offered by cloud service partners help healthcare providers safeguard their data and systems, monitor cloud accounts and automate security alerting and response. Plus, cloud providers with System and Organization Controls 2 (SOC 2) certification have additional controls in place to protect sensitive data from security breaches.
Optimize various cloud initiatives
Perhaps a healthcare provider has recently moved to the cloud and questions which initiative is taking up the lion’s share of the cloud budget, or maybe a certain aspect of the platform is causing performance issues. Cloud optimization techniques help healthcare organizations maximize the value of their cloud investment by enhancing performance, controlling costs and ensuring scalability. These techniques help identify the right-sized cloud resources to match workload demand.
The cloud helps healthcare organizations meet fluctuating patient demand. Consider, for instance, high-demand periods when hospitals and healthcare clinics are under stress to leverage their networks and deliver services as quickly as possible. The cloud enables providers to seamlessly access patient data from several devices, to intake data and pass it on to other teams within the clinic or campus to deliver the care they need.
What’s more, cloud technology helps healthcare companies monitor cloud expenses daily, allowing them to set up alerts and understand when and why spikes in data occur. A cloud services partner can also help healthcare providers mitigate some of those costs while scaling up or down by providing strategic recommendations on how to allocate their budgets to achieve the greatest ROI.
Deploy AI to improve patient outcomes
The potential for AI in the healthcare industry is promising and only getting started. Many medical organizations already use AI-powered solutions for anything from diagnostic testing to research studies to risk assessments and preventative care. On the administrative side of the healthcare industry, AI can handle tedious tasks like filling out forms or writing clinical notes.
For example, some AI-powered solutions have been developed to parse through vast amounts of patient data and make it digestible for healthcare providers by delivering accurate, actionable summaries that save time and improve outcomes. The solutions can even translate clinical notes into provider codes to simplify complex billing. Using large language models (LLMs), AI can cull through data, filter for sensitive terms related or unrelated to a certain condition to help clinicians pinpoint treatments or remedies, which potentially saves clinicians and caseworkers countless hours.
Healthcare providers can also an LLM to take non-protected health information (PHI), like patients’ benefits and coverage data, and summarize that information to provide improved customer service.
Four steps to mitigate cloud migration challenges
Understanding these key areas for cloud deployment and enhancement, there are a handful of initiatives healthcare organizations should embark on to improve their cloud migration or cloud posture throughout the organization. These include:
- Communicating and getting the executive team on board with a cloud-first strategy
- Providing cloud-specific, on-demand training so teams can upskill and get cloud training
- Offering a sandbox-style account so employees can play with and get more comfortable with cloud technology
- Ensuring collaboration across various teams to understand how the cloud can be optimized, regardless of department
Going all in on the cloud
Cloud computing is more agile, secure and resilient than traditional computing models. However, if one’s organization doesn’t know where to start or how to keep the momentum going, remember to partner with a skilled, experienced cloud services partner to help the company truly innovate, provide better patient care and succeed in a rapidly changing healthcare environment.
About Duane Barnes
Duane Barnes is an accomplished senior executive with a distinguished career spanning over two decades in the cloud and managed services business. He currently holds the position of President of RapidScale, a Cox Business Company, encompassing the acquisitions of RapidScale and Logicworks.
