96% Of Healthcare Organizations Use The Cloud

By Katie Wike, contributing writer

Nearly all mid-size healthcare organizations are now using the cloud, according to a recent report conducted by Dell.

Ninety-six percent of mid-size healthcare organizations are either using or seriously considering the cloud, according to a recent report from Dell. Healthcare IT News reports there are three goals of those using the cloud:

1.making information technology more cost efficient

2.upgrading outdated infrastructure

3.further optimizing data centers

Cliff Bleustein, M.D., CMO, Dell Healthcare and Life Sciences, explains in a press release that by freeing IT staff to focus on the clinical experience and patient care, using the cloud allows for more information-driven, patient-centered healthcare. “By providing the flexibility and scalability that enables small and mid-size healthcare organizations to be more nimble in the face of constant change, the cloud can help speed and ease the transformation as other newer technologies are adopted.”

Forty-three percent of respondents use a private cloud solution while another 43 percent use a hybrid cloud solution. Six in 10 respondents said they feel “very confident” that their data is protected in the cloud. Forty-six percent said better allocation of IT resources is the biggest benefit of cloud computing; followed closely by cost savings at 39 percent.

“We gain control over storage costs and avoid future data migrations by centralizing our data in the cloud with the Dell Unified Clinical Archive,” said David Tomlinson, CIO and CFO at Centegra, where the cloud is used to store and enable sharing of medical images.

“Our first concern with using the cloud was security and our second was about backups. How would we access information if our connections went down? Once we worked through the security component and established redundancy to ensure high availability, we embraced the Dell Unified Clinical Archive. It’s the wave of the future because it offers lower cost points and lower total cost of ownership,” says Tomlinson.

Health IT Outcomes reported earlier this year that an annual HIMSS cloud survey found about 80 percent of providers were already using the cloud. Only 6 percent expressed an unwillingness to adopt the cloud, and those providers cited mainly security concerns.