Cloud computing technologies have become true assistants for medical providers due to their accessibility. Doctors and patients can access the data in electronic health records (EHR) and patient platforms from any location with an Internet connection. It allows for active engagement of all the stakeholders in general wellness and healthcare.
Statistics prove the popularity of cloud hosting among medical companies. The global cloud computing in the healthcare market was worth $58.93 billion in 2024. In 2030, it is predicted to grow to more than $170 billion. In this post, healthtech businesses learn about the main spheres of cloud application in healthcare.
The health cloud concept
Before moving on to the applications of cloud computing, it is important to understand the peculiarities of health clouds. Medical providers use clouds in healthcare to gather and store data across multiple systems. Easy access to data improves clinical processes, paperwork, and financial operations.
Health clouds are commonly vertical. The difference from a horizontal cloud lies in the direction of its scaling. Horizontal scaling implies adding servers to cope with extra tasks. It works for sales or revenue cycle management. As for healthcare, vertical scaling is applied. It means faster and more powerful functionality. AWS, Microsoft Azure, and their partnering IT companies offer vertical scaling for the medical domain. They guarantee data privacy and comply with HIPAA and other security regulations.
How is cloud computing used in healthcare?
Remote EHRs
Cloud-based healthcare solutions enable doctors to access patient data from any location. If a person switches medical providers, their health and treatment history will be available to new physicians. Healthtech companies often decide to migrate their solutions to the cloud to attract more medical providers. For instance, a custom software development company, Belitsoft, helps its clients migrate from NET framework to NET core. IT specialists use the NET core to build cross-platform applications in the cloud (Azure, AWS). An expert with 20 years of healthtech experience, Dmitry Baraishuk, mentions that NET solutions meet the requirements of medical providers as they are fast, responsive, and comply with data security regulations.
Patient portals
The time when patients had to call a medical center and wait for long on-hold periods or physically commute to the hospital to make an appointment is gone. People today can consult a virtual chatbot or choose a slot in their physician’s schedule online. According to Gartner, 20% of medical organizations will utilize patients’ front-door solutions by 2026.
The elements of the digital front doors may vary depending on the healthtech provider. Among the main features are the following:
- Cloud technologies allow patients to schedule appointments online. Self-scheduling leads to better patient retention and frees administrative staff from part of their chores. Healthtech providers can also enforce the solutions with data analytics tools and virtual assistants. The virtual assistants offer new appointments to patients and fill open slots. They perform the scheduling automatically, which relieves the routine of administrative staff and keeps doctors busy. As a result, the revenue losses caused by no-shows will decrease.
- Automated appointment reminders.
- Automated messages with educational information. For example, women can receive instructions to perform a manual breast self-exam with a reminder of passing a regular mammogram.
Telemedicine
Telemedicine is a great alternative to traditional face-to-face consultations. Remote appointments are convenient for patients, as they do not have to commute to hospitals. Physicians can handle more patients from remote areas. Besides, it reduces the risks of catching infections at seasonal peaks. Cloud-based platforms allow patients to share images and videos with practitioners and wait for their comments (“store-and-forward”).
According to Deloitte, current trends in healthcare shift from providing necessary treatment to ensuring preventive care and general well-being outside of the hospital walls. Remote care contributes to preventive medicine, as it helps to detect anomalies at earlier stages. Online health assessments, following comments from the experts, as well as wearable devices all comprise the so-called “at-home” medical offerings. Digital health vendors make such options possible for medical organizations. Therefore, partnerships in the sphere of cloud technologies similar to the one between the Mayo Clinic and Google, lead to better health conditions in the population.
Clinical decision support system (CDSS)
CDSSs allow for not only storing medical data in one place like EHRs, but they also help medical specialists work with the information and gain insights. For example, CDSS aids doctors in deciding whether a patient needs surgery, whether a mammogram is better than a computed tomography to screen for lung cancer, what kind of intensive support is preferable, etc.
Integrating EHRs with cloud-based CDS functionality facilitates workflows for medical staff. A recent report shows that on-premises CDSSs comprise a larger market share in comparison with cloud solutions. However, there is a growing demand for cloud-based solutions due to their lower operational costs, scalability, and flexibility. That is why key players are investing in cloud hosting.
Workflow automation
Cloud technologies improve hospital management for all the stakeholders. Centralized data storage and a network of connected devices enable medical enterprises to track patients’ health. Besides, it leads to automating healthcare supply chain management. Medical centers and hospitals can access the data, monitor inventory and required equipment, keep track of doctors’ and nurses’ schedules, and, as a result, increase productivity.
Cloud hosting also opens the potential for implementing artificial intelligence (AI). AI assistance is convenient in the areas of medical billing and coding. It also increases the speed of extracting information, interpreting images, and filling out forms. For instance, the recent Microsoft solution, DAX Copilot, decreases clinicians’ stress levels. It automatically takes notes while a doctor is diagnosing a patient. Therefore, doctors do not have to type anything into the health history and can be more attentive to patients.
Drug discovery
With traditional tools, drug discovery takes from twelve to fifteen years and more than $1 billion. Cloud technologies increase the speed, as part of the tests can be carried out in silico. Modern computing powers perform sophisticated calculations and analyze large datasets. As a result, scientists can predict the behavior of certain elements, their interactions, and their effects on human organisms.
Wrap up
Cloud computing is widely used and brings a bunch of benefits to medical providers and their end users. Addressing the right service provider for cloud hosting or cloud migration is crucial, as they ensure security measures, staff training for better adaptation, and follow-up customization.
