As technology evolves and legislation has required healthcare providers to move to EHRs, the landscape of the medical back office has been transformed. Today, security is a very real concern, as practitioners have to find ways to protect patient information from hackers and system failures. One solution is cloud computing.
A cloud platform offers numerous benefits for your practice, from protecting sensitive data to providing recovery options should an event occur. Many cloud providers are available today, which can make it confusing to know which platform might fit your needs and budget best. With the right information and a team of experts on your side, you can rest assured you will choose the best cloud platform for your practice both now and in the future.
Medicus IT is an information technology service that offers healthcare cloud services, as well as security and managed service packages. Our team of healthcare IT experts can help you decide which cloud platform is right for your healthcare organization.
What healthcare cloud platforms are available?
Depending on your healthcare organization’s needs and preferences, there is a cloud platform available for you. We can help you compare and contrast some of the most popular options to find the one that serves your needs and budget best.
MS Azure
From analytics to integration and storage, MS Azure is a cloud platform and infrastructure developed by Microsoft. It is used to build, deploy, and manage applications and services through a world-wide network of data centers managed by Microsoft.
Advantages:
- Second largest cloud provider on the market
- Offers rich PaaS functionality
- Dynamically scaled for best performance
- High availability
- Data security
- Great value for the money
Disadvantages:
- Requires platform expertise, which may not be practical
- Services may be subject to data transfer fees
- Technical support may not be as responsive
- Pricing is more complex overall
- Requires expert management and maintenance
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
As a leader in healthcare cloud platform services, Amazon Web Services offers top security solutions for healthcare organizations needing HIPAA-compliant software. AWS gives you a quick guide that shows you how to configure HIPAA-compliant cloud storage specifically for Amazon Web Services (AWS). AWS is also known for its services that span the globe, with 69 availability zones.
Advantages:
- Highly available
- Scalable to your practice
- User-friendly for easy application
- Cost-effective option
Disadvantages:
- Security limitations
- Training needed on platform
- Lack of experts to offer technical support
- Price variations make budgeting a challenge
Google Cloud
As one of the best HIPAA-compliant cloud storage services, Google Cloud is a suite of apps that allow organizations to sync and store their data on an online server. Google Cloud allows users to share data with each other through the server. The platform includes Google Drive, Cloud IoT Core, Cloud SQL, and Cloud Storage.
Advantages:
- Able to schedule server maintenance time
- Easy integration with other Google cloud services
- Renews SSL certificates automatically
- Many storage regions available
Disadvantages:
- Support fee is high
- Expensive to download data
- Complicated pricing schema
Hosted Cloud Platforms
Besides using the “big 3” public cloud providers, there are also provider-hosted cloud platforms. Companies like Greencloud offer hosted data center virtualization and cloud infrastructure with many of the same features and functionality as those public options listed above. These companies also have internal expertise you can leverage and are customizable to your needs.
Advantages:
- Highly available
- Scalable to your practice
- Familiar administration (VMware, Hyper-V)
- Cost-effective option
- Flat-rate vs. usage based variable costs
Disadvantages:
- Security limitations - “Bring your own security”
- Vendor stability and longevity
Software as a Service (SaaS)
Another option available to healthcare providers is to have applications completely hosted by the vendor. Many EMR/EHR’s offer a SaaS option where they own the entire application from hardware, software, database, storage, redundancy, and recovery perspective.
Advantages:
- Highly available
- Responsibility on the vendor for uptime
- Security and compliance built in
Disadvantages:
- Difficult to migrate away
- Have to trust the vendor for security and uptime
Additionally, many other applications can be hosted from “the cloud” including cloud applications for EMR/EHR and web applications.
Microsoft 365
Formerly Office 365, MS 365 is a cloud platform that includes all Microsoft Office products, such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook, Publisher, and Access. MS 365 can be installed across any device in your organization and ensures that you have the most up-to-date version of all Office products.
Advantages:
- Ability to mix and match plans
- Work anywhere and anytime
- Superior security features
- OneDrive share technology for easy collaboration
Disadvantages:
- Too many management consoles
- Potential for compatibility issues
- Subscription-based services
Which cloud platform is best for your practice?
No one cloud computing provider is going to work for every provider and practice. Medicus IT can help you determine which HIPAA-compliant cloud is best for your facility. For more information about healthcare cloud platforms and what they can do for your organization, contact us today.
