A Survey of the State of Cloud Computing in Healthcare

Analysts, researchers and organizations alike seem to agree that cloud computing will be a defining trend in the coming decade impacting wide range of businesses and how those businesses are practiced. Large technology companies are already investing millions of dollars in building infrastructure, services, tools and applications to facilitate cloud computing for consumers, organizations and businesses to use and take advantage. It remains to be seen how cloud computing will impact the healthcare business since it is very diverse, complex and unique and presents several challenges such as protecting members health records in addition to following HIPAA guidelines set by federal compliance regulations. In addition to these the rising cost of healthcare solutions is another major concern. Efforts are being made to reduce these costs for consumers and IT will play a big role in achieving it and also improving clinical and quality outcomes for patients. It will be very interesting to see how cloud computing will address and contribute towards these issues in the healthcare industry. The purpose of this paper is to explore the current state and trends of cloud computing in healthcare.