Cloud Computing in Medicine: Innovations and Challenges

Cloud computing is currently a technology used on a massive scale – Statista reports that in 2022, 60% of corporate data was already in the cloud, which is double the amount of data from 2015 (30%), and this upward trend continues to accelerate. Cloud computing allows for data processing based on services provided by a vendor over the internet. There are many types and models of cloud services, so every organization can find something that suits its needs. In this article, we will look at the specific opportunities that the cloud offers the medical industry.    

Cloud computing in medicine: benefits and opportunities

Without delving into the detailed features of every type or model of cloud, we can list the following benefits of using a well-chosen and professionally implemented cloud computing solution in the medical sector:

• Seamless collaboration
• Lower costs
• Scalability
• Accessibility
• Performance and reliability
• Innovation
• Security
• Data recovery system (disaster recovery)

Of course, some of these benefits may also prove to be a challenge when implementing a new solution and during migration to the cloud, but we will write about that in a moment. The medical sector relies on data – we all remember and recognize shelves filled with binders containing thousands of patient documents, which are still found at reception desks in clinics and hospitals. The medical cloud eliminates the need to keep such a large amount of physical documents, which are much less secure and accessible in that form – while anyone can access them, it is often difficult to quickly retrieve a specific form or test description due to the volume of paperwork or its poor condition. The cloud allows for finding specific patient data with a few clicks 24/7; it also allows for the rapid transfer of this data to another department, hospital, or specialist doctor when needed – all that is required is internet access. Cloud providers (the most popular being AWS or Azure) are particularly mindful of the security of their solutions. To offer high-quality products to clients, they must comply with legal regulations and cybersecurity standards, so they use a great many tools and processes aimed at securing data in the cloud in various ways and at different stages of processing. This also relates to data recovery and creating backups of the production environment, configuration settings, and the data itself. Thanks to this, cloud users can easily recover their lost resources without worry, which is particularly important in the case of information about patients and their health status. Considering costs, we can state that a well-functioning cloud can save a significant amount of money in the long term, which would normally have to be spent on maintaining physical infrastructure and expensive equipment (in the case of maintaining local servers). As a client, we only pay for the services we actually use. We can also easily scale our cloud usage depending on how much space and computing power we actually need at any given moment.

Innovations related to cloud computing in the medical sector

Cloud computing allows for the introduction of innovative technologies into daily use within an enterprise. The complex data structure operated by the medical sector makes support for automation, AI (Artificial Intelligence), ML (Machine Learning), or Big Data invaluable. Personal, contact, and medical data, history of tests and visits, as well as information about insurance or payments are just the basic categories that a medical system “processes,” so simply keeping this data in the cloud is not enough – it still needs to be managed and analyzed. IoT (Internet of Things) can also be a great support – this technology uses smart devices that collect additional information about patients and send it to the cloud (the simplest example is a watch that reads a patient’s pulse, blood pressure, or blood oxygen saturation). Thanks to these technologies, which would be impossible to use without cloud computing, researchers and specialists can use vast amounts of medical data to conduct innovative research and verify the effectiveness of therapies, implemented treatments, and specific drugs. Information can flow into laboratories from many clinics and hospitals simultaneously, which means we very easily and quickly gain access to a large knowledge base and can analyze results that may lead to the rapid improvement of medical preparations or draw conclusions that would be practically impossible to reach without advanced technology.

Challenges and problems related to introducing cloud computing to medicine

The first step toward migration is always the hardest, and this is certainly the case for organizations with such highly developed datasets as those found in the medical sector. Especially when we are not sure how to start and with what, it is difficult to decide on introducing cloud computing. We must keep in mind the number of things we need to take care of so that the entire process goes smoothly and efficiently, and also so that it brings as many long-term benefits as possible. A good practice is to turn to specialists and consultants who know what analyses to conduct and how best to implement cloud solutions in a specific enterprise – and which specific cloud solutions, in what model, and with what features. Remember that no organization and no sector will have exactly the same goals, so it is crucial to gather information on these topics beforehand. We do not want to lose money and increase long-term costs because we did not accurately analyze our actual needs – which is why we mentioned earlier that the costs of migration itself can also be a challenge when introducing the cloud. If the solution is introduced professionally and with the support of thorough analysis, even if we spend more at the beginning, we will save in the long run. One of the challenges is introducing and maintaining a so-called cloud culture – Cloud Culture – among our colleagues and everyone who has contact with this technology. Employees must be aware of how the cloud works, what opportunities it brings, but also what the absolute rules of its use are. Remember that when it comes to IT security, the human is always the weakest link. The cloud may have the best security and be compliant with every local law in force (such as GDPR), but if an employee shares data in an inappropriate way or uses it unskillfully, they may expose it to leaks or cause a drop in performance. Bearing in mind that the data processed by the medical sector is truly sensitive and very private, we cannot afford mistakes.

Examples of success in using cloud computing in medicine

An example of medical cloud success is the case of Spoedtestcorona (e-health ecosystem, now easly.nl). The company worked on a secure solution allowing residents of the Netherlands and Belgium to quickly and contactlessly distribute medical tests, and in 2020, due to the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, it had to manage to deliver the application – an e-health ecosystem – in a very short time and on various platforms. Thanks to Amazon Web Services cloud computing, they managed to release the application on the set deadline of two weeks while maintaining the highest security standards and recorded great success (over 2 million Covid-19 tests, and nearly 2 thousand other tests conducted quickly and under appropriate conditions). Pfizer is another company that bases its operations on cloud computing. We all know the name of this organization because it introduced the most famous Covid-19 vaccine to the market. With the support of AWS, Pfizer is working, among other things, on creating cloud solutions aimed at accelerating and improving the development of processes for conducting clinical trials. The medical cloud allows for maintaining strict and reliably conducted communication between the patient and the doctor, even if they are not in the same place. This supports people with disabilities as well as people living in remote, less developed towns and villages, eliminating the need for transport and visits to traditional medical facilities, which are usually located in larger cities. We are talking here, of course, about the majority of cases that are not serious illnesses requiring constant care. Thanks to cloud computing, which enables the use of other innovative technologies, a doctor can even monitor the health status of their “remote” patients in real-time via smart devices that monitor vital signs and send data to the cloud via IoT.

The future of cloud computing in the medical sector

  The future of the cloud looks very bright, including in the medical sector. Despite resistance from more conservative hospitals, the path to digitalization and migration to the cloud is only a matter of time. Everything was accelerated by the Covid-19 pandemic, and although the dust has practically settled on that event, we can see with the naked eye the advantages of technology, remote solutions, and cloud computing, which gives us the ability to use AI, ML, and IoT. The cloud allows for a significant improvement in the “patient experience” – the experience of the patient, who no longer has to go to the clinic for every minor medical need and wait in long queues – prescriptions and remote consultations are becoming increasingly popular, and this is just the beginning.