Duration: 3 min. read
Content and Document Management, Electronic Health Record (EHR), Electronic Medical Record (EMR)
Beyond COVID-19: Forecast may call for a cloud
By Jennifer Marshall, Director, Technical Product Management, Healthcare Technology Analytics Solutions
This is the final article in a series on topics inspired by a focus group discussion among members of CHIME (College of Healthcare Information Management Executives) about strategies used to adapt during the pandemic.
Hospitals and healthcare organizations continue to discuss the adoption of a cloud strategy as they look to improve patient outcomes, reduce costs, and remain flexible during times of uncertainty. Cloud storage implements remote servers accessed via the internet to store, manage, and process healthcare-related data.
Like other organizations with on-site data centers, hospitals and health systems face challenges with capacity, administrative tasks, scalability limitations, and infrastructure expenditures. When considering how to streamline systems and manage growing infrastructure costs, organizations look to cloud computing platforms for flexible scale, built-in security tools, and automation.
Cloud can offer organizations an opportunity to save money on software, platforms, and infrastructure. Instead of building their own technology stack, organizations can subscribe to a service provider who can provide physical infrastructure in the cloud.
HIMSS Media conducted an online survey on behalf of the Center for Connected Medicine among 100 US hospitals and health systems to better understand attitudes and perceptions about cloud security. Findings indicate approximately two-thirds of respondents trust in public cloud solutions to keep data secure. However, cloud-first is not an all or nothing strategy; third-party cloud service providers offer both public cloud and hybrid cloud.
Public clouds are the most common type of cloud computing deployment. Cloud resources like servers and storage are owned and operated by a third-party cloud service provider and delivered over the internet. With a public cloud, all hardware, software, and other supporting infrastructure are owned and managed by the cloud provider.
In a public cloud, you share the same hardware, storage, and network devices with other organizations or cloud “tenants” and users access services and manage accounts using a web browser. Public cloud deployments are frequently used to provide web-based email, online office applications, storage, and testing and development environments.
A hybrid cloud combines on-premises infrastructure—or a private cloud—with a public cloud. Hybrid clouds allow data and apps to move between the two environments.
Organizations choose a hybrid cloud approach due to business imperatives such as meeting regulatory and data sovereignty requirements, taking full advantage of on-premises technology investment, or addressing low latency issues.
Advantages of the hybrid cloud model include business continuity, application and datacenter modernization, and the freedom to use more than one public cloud provider.
If you are considering cloud-based document management solutions, we can work with you to determine options for synchronization, cloning, and backup/restore plans to meet your objectives. Software that includes cloud deployments, such as Quanum Enterprise® Content Solutions, can help quickly retrieve and recover documents to reduce downtime. To learn more about cloud-based document management or to see a demonstration, contact us today.
Disclaimer: The information contained in this blog post is provided solely for informational purposes and is not intended to be specific guidance or advice.
