Cloud Storage and Healthcare
Most people aren't anxious to send very personal information to a very public cloud. But, statistics show that most healthcare organizations will use some kind of cloud storage in the very near future. To put some numbers with that statement, health care cloud computing is expected to grow to a $5.4 billion dollar market by 2017. 
Even though cloud computing makes healthcare filing simpler, many still resist the cloud. One of the most obvious reasons for this resistance has to do with security. As we've seen from companies like Amazon, cloud computing isn't always private or safe. It's hard to ignore, though, the fact that moving things to the cloud will cut back costs dramatically.
Cloud Storage Will Cut Back Health Care Costs
Healthcare providers need ways to cut costs. Cutting back an IT department, and replacing that team with a simpler cloud computing solution helps to reduce costs. But, is cutting costs worth the potential risk that cloud computing poses?
Cloud Storage and Healthcare: Legalities and Risks
Cloud servers are remote, though the fact remains that these servers are, in fact, located somewhere in the physical world. How can companies ensure that physical servers are secure? Free from hackers? Safe from prying eyes? Further, how can companies ensure that virtual clouds are safe? Just how easy is it to hack into a healthcare cloud?
The laws surrounding healthcare are stringent in most countries. Now that cloud computing has entered the picture, these laws might have to change. It's also obvious that healthcare companies have to start exploring different security avenues. Every day, cloud computing companies are coming up with security measures that will make healthcare in the cloud more secure. Not turning towards the cloud would be a mistake for most healthcare providers.
Cloud Storage and Healthcare: A Move Impossible Not to Make
Having mobile records and information at fingertips is really what cloud computing in the healthcare world is all about. Doctors can access patient information quickly, and piles upon piles of patient paperwork can be organized and filed without multiple errors. These kinds of improvements are too important to pass up.
The truth of the matter is that healthcare and the cloud are finally working together well. As is clear from the data listed above, more and more healthcare providers are moving towards cloud storage options. Sure, cloud storage is somewhat risky, hackers are present, and information could be unsecured, but isn't that a risk healthcare providers are already taking? Few healthcare companies actually use the old paper and file system anymore.
Most files are already electronically secured. The cloud is just going one step further in that direction — a step that will likely become more secure as it also becomes the norm. Is cloud computing completely safe? No; but it's no less or more safe than any other new technology. Given time, healthcare, patients, and cloud computing will become one well-oiled (and accepting) machine.