The Impact of Cloud Computing on Healthcare was written to help enterprise information technology (IT) and business decision makers of the healthcare industry as they analyze and consider the implications of cloud computing on their business.
 
This guide contains guidance and strategies to help decision makers evaluate and compare cloud computing offerings from different providers, taking into account requirements from various actors including medical practices, hospitals, research facilities, insurance companies and governments. The paper covers current market dynamics, challenges and benefits of cloud computing on healthcare IT.
 
Throughout the paper, the role that management and IT standards play to improve the flexibility, interoperability and portability of cloud computing environments is highlighted.
 
Topics covered in detail:

• Key factors influencing cloud computing adoption in the healthcare industry, the barriers to address, and considerations for service and deployment models
• Specific IT trends in the healthcare industry that are addressed most effectively, both technically and economically, by cloud computing as opposed to traditional IT environments
• Cloud computing services for healthcare currently available that provide substantial benefits to healthcare organizations and patients
• The planning process for migrating healthcare IT systems and applications to the cloud
• Recommendations for how best to achieve the benefits of cloud computing while maintaining an acceptable level of risk