Healthcare practices and organizations are steadily moving toward cloud storage solutions for their healthcare data, employee data, and patient data. According to Gartner, a research firm, more than 30 percent of healthcare organizations will be using cloud storage by 2022. Gartner claims the growth in cloud storage will be due to budget pressures and the need to reduce capital expenditures in the healthcare environment. While this sounds like an obvious projection for the future, healthcare organizations need to understand that data security in the cloud is entirely different than data stored in their office.
The recently released 2019 Cloud Data Security Report, produced by Netwrix, details the types of data healthcare organizations store in the cloud. There are a few essential takeaways from this report. One is that most healthcare organizations that move to the cloud do so to cut costs. Why is this important, because investing in cloud storage also means you will need to invest in cloud security, which can end up being more expensive, upfront, than their traditional storage solutions. Many healthcare organizations don’t realize this and attempt to secure their cloud storage data the same way they do in house storage. The problem is that cloud storage has different challenges and requires a much more comprehensive security solution than in house storage security.
Though there is a financial push to move data to the cloud, many healthcare organizations struggle with the security aspect for two main reasons.
- The volume of data they store on the cloud consists mostly of highly sensitive data. For healthcare facilities, this can be risky when it comes to HIPAA compliance. According to the Cloud Data Security Report, most companies that store sensitive data on the cloud store all their confidential data there with no classification of how much security that data requires. Also, a quarter of the organizations that do this have reported at least one security incident in the cloud during the past year.
- Healthcare organizations not allotting the proper budget to ensure the security of their sensitive data. Most in house IT teams don’t have enough resources to protect sensitive data due to budget constraints. The 2019 report also states that most IT teams didn’t even receive an increase from cloud security initiatives last year. These costs and security concerns have even caused healthcare organizations to take drastic measures and move all their data back to in house storage, wasting time and money for the organization.
The growing trend is still moving to cloud storage, despite security and cost challenges, which means that if your healthcare practice is going to grow into the future, you need to start looking at cloud storage solutions and security for that storage. We know it can seem expensive, complicated, and even overwhelming at times but don’t fret, Medicus IT is here to help!
We have more than fifteen years of experience supporting over 1,000 locations with their IT needs. From infrastructure to networking, to cybersecurity, and yes, cloud storage, we have the right people in the right positions to develop solutions that are unique for your healthcare organization. With HIPAA compliance at our core security is always included with our cloud storage solutions so you won’t have to worry whether your data is secure or not. Do you want your practice to continue to grow? Of course, you do. Then you will need to start looking at cloud storage to keep up with the healthcare industry. Why not let our team perform a free network assessment to determine any security and HIPAA compliance gaps you currently have? After all, “We do IT right” so that you can do what you do best: take care of your patients.
