The Evolution of Healthcare Industry with the Cloud

Much like other industries, technology is constantly evolving in the highly competitive healthcare industry as well. Most of them are widely adopting cloud-based solutions for patient management systems and EHRs for offering efficient services for both patients and practitioners. The cloud today has become one of the most sophisticated solutions with features including on-demand computing by leveraging the latest technology to deploy, use, and access networked information, resources, and applications. As per market reports, the global healthcare cloud computing market is anticipated to reach $9.48 billion in 2020 from $3.73 billion in 2015—a 20.5 percent compound annual growth rate. This rapid development with innovative technology will boost the demands of healthcare systems' to maintain and improve quality healthcare while stabilizing healthcare costs.

Most of the leading hospital facilities are changing their legacy systems to include electronic health records (EHRs), and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act enforced by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA). This effective transformation provides timely access to medical records to administrative personnel, physicians, and nurses.

Many medical facilities were depending on EHRs housed on traditional client-server architectures. However, the improvement in IT technology has paved the way for simplified operations in this regard, making the processes more capable and patient-centric.

IT solutions for the healthcare industry have offered many worthy benefits. The improved security of cloud computing solutions and service providers will ensure healthcare organizations seamless protection from potential loss of control sensitive data.

Cloud-based electronic health records (EHRs) is beginning to have a dramatic impact on the healthcare industry. Artificial intelligence and IoT technologies are combined with cloud computing to make more innovative progress in the healthcare sector. One such solution is the concept of ‘smart beds’ which is being implemented in a few hospitals. It can detect the patient's movements and adjust accordingly to avoid any human intervention. Other solutions such as home medication dispensers are being developed. These devices come with the ability to track if medication is taken on time or not with the help of the data stored in the cloud. Health information trackers that are designed to improve patient-physician interaction are helping to deliver great results in the field of healthcare. As some of the highly advanced technologies are getting implemented in the healthcare industry, it will fetch great results by improving treatment outcomes, reducing costs and errors, enhancing the patient experience, and managing drugs and disease efficiently.