Cloud-Based Solutions in Health Care - 2022 Edition

Cloud-Based Solutions in Health Care

The Future of Centralized Systems

Introduction

Cloud-based computing is a modern solution to a modern problem. We are surrounded by so much data nowadays; it becomes impossible to compute let alone carry it around. With cloud computing, a healthcare professional will be able to refer to a patient’s file through a centralized system available anywhere at any time.

Not only will it make treating patients more efficient but also aid data collection and sharing more convenient. This is extremely useful when conducting research. Such a modality can pass all the issues healthcare professionals currently face with performing research. This includes difficulty in handling computational problems due to their complexity, and even the added costs due to unavailability.

History

The integration of a centralized digital system has been on the agenda of healthcare communities for a while now. Healthcare professionals realized that with the digital transformation in other industries it was necessary for them to make changes too.

However, the acceleration towards the shift came during the COVID-19 pandemic. During this time the healthcare industry was able to transform years’ worth of digital efforts in a month. All of this was done to meet the exponential demands of the pandemic.

Even after this rapid shift, the healthcare sector is still on top of the list when it comes to obsolete, traditional data management. This could be due to the numerous and ever-changing challenges faced by this sector, for example, growing privacy concerns and frequently updated regulations.

Current Research

Still, some prominent names in healthcare are working on integrating cloud-based solutions with patient care as well as research. The Harvard School of Medicine has taken advantage of cloud-based computing to develop models related to genetic medicine. This new method allowed them to handle a vast amount of data in a limited time.

Furthermore, Bateman and Woods used a cloud-based program provided by Amazon to sequence a full human genome through data collected through lymph nodes.[i] This involved 140 million individual reads with additional software required to align them.

Some progress has even been made in the patient care aspect of health care. Healthcare professionals have recommended the use of cloud-based computing to centralize patient data taken through a network of sensors. Once this data has been collected it can upload to the cloud-based storage and become accessible to physicians anywhere at any time.

Future

Taking this concept will provide numerous benefits to the healthcare industry. To begin with, this model will be cost-effective as it is provided on a subscription basis. After purchasing the subscription, the healthcare providers will be exempted from spending on other costly systems and equipment. Additionally, if executed properly, the cloud servers are proven to be a lot more secure than current systems of data collection. A great added benefit includes the availability of a backup if on-premises data is lost.

The cloud also allowed a centralized place for all types of data therefore the need for separate medical records, mobile apps, and patient portals become obsolete. Besides this data can be manipulated by Artificial Intelligence programs to narrow down diagnoses and even increase operation efficiency.

A growing concern in the healthcare industry is the lack of compatibility between different data collection and storage systems. Interoperability[ii] is a salient feature of cloud-based technology. This causes a great margin between different portals. If this margin is removed the healthcare providers can take advantage of the many benefits that come with centralized systems.

At SofTx

Here at SofTx Innovations, our goal is to aid the transition of traditional healthcare systems to cloud-based, centralized, cost-effective, and portable solutions. It is widely agreed by many experienced industries that the sooner organizations shift towards cloud-based systems the easier the journey ahead will become.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it is of utmost importance to realize that patients in the near future will start expecting a seamless experience during their illness. And this seamless experience is difficult to achieve without cloud-based technology.

Cloud-based technology will not only provide the interface with a more preventive approach to medicine but also for better patient participation. With the kind of diseases burden we have nowadays, this is the best way to practice medicine.

[i] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3222190/

[ii] https://www.accruent.com/resources/blog-posts/cloud-computing-shaping-future-healthcare

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