Transitioning to the cloud also makes it easier for most healthcare facilities meet compliance requirements
Healthcare facilities are unique because they must consider every business decision against the same question: “How will this impact patient care?” With many medical offices making the transition from physical records to the cloud, that question remains as important as ever. To learn more about the effect cloud migration has had on their facilities, in November 2022, DuploCloud surveyed 500 IT specialists working in healthcare about their experience. We found an industry already enjoying the benefits of the transition — as well as one delighted by how easy it was to make the change.
Ready to learn more? We’ve rounded up the key takeaways from our survey below.
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Moving to the Cloud Improved Access to Resources for Patients
Cloud Computing Adoption Is Becoming the Norm
Concerns Over Compliance in the Cloud Are Unfounded
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Moving to the Cloud Improved Access to Resources for Patients
Survey respondents say that moving to the cloud helped them improve patient care standards through easier access to resources and medical records. Fifty-four percent said that they are now able to provide a better experience to caregivers and 51% say they are providing better services to patients as a result of being able to securely share data.
When patients can see their lab results from the comfort of home via a secure portal or can easily discuss their results with a doctor via a telehealth service, they feel more empowered to take charge of their health. In other words, cloud computing makes healthcare more user-friendly for the average person, which leads to improved care.
Cloud Computing Adoption Is Becoming the Norm
Seventy percent of the survey participants say their organization adopted cloud computing, and an additional 20% are planning to make the move in the next two years. That means cloud computing adoption in the healthcare industry will hit 90% by 2025. Larger organizations, like Medicare/Medicaid agencies, hospitals, and health plan managers have the highest adoption rates, likely because they have more resources to manage a transition.
Smaller doctor and dentist clinics report the lowest rates of adoption and are the most likely to use paper records. Interestingly, even among those who adopted cloud computing 55% report using paper records in spite of the HITECH Act of 2009 encouraging medical professionals to move to electronic records. Meanwhile, 52% continue using some on-premises solutions for storage and computing. So while cloud adoption is becoming universal, healthcare organizations seem to prefer retaining some legacy methods for managing information.
Concerns Over Compliance in the Cloud Are Unfounded
Why are some medical offices reluctant to make the transition to the cloud in spite of its proven benefits? Fifty-seven percent of respondents cited concerns about maintaining compliance as the number one reason for not moving to the cloud. However, according to most of their colleagues who made the switch, maintaining compliance during the process was easy — 88% reported having an easier time with compliance standards on the cloud.
More than half of the participants (about 60%) said they are using a third-party service to transition to the cloud, and 71% say that maintaining compliance was easier than expected during the move. Considering that healthcare organizations handle staggering amounts of sensitive data and moving to the cloud requires creating new security infrastructure, that figure is perhaps unsurprising.
To read the full report, download the Cloud Computing Adoption in the Healthcare Industry survey.
Make the Switch With DuploCloud
DuploCloud offers a DevSecOps platform with out-of-the-box HIPAA compliance controls and audit ready reporting. We help organizations that are building or migrating to the cloud make compliance a part of their process from the get-go. Learn more about DuploCloud and how we can help you make the switch to cloud computing and maintain HIPAA standards.
