According to the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP), an average 8,000 baby boomers born between 1946 and 1965 turn 65 years old every day. While this bodes well for vacation planners and retirement homes, healthcare institutions are presented with the challenge of serving this aging yet unique group as they head into the sunset of their lives. Notably, as hospital resources including beds and monitoring devices increase in demand, IT executives must find ways to ensure resources aren’t brought to their knees while doctors and nurses can continue to maintain close watch on their patients.
We’ve had the opportunity to work with many healthcare institutions, developing technology solutions to drive efficiency and innovation. In our consulting, we’ve noticed four key areas that arise in conversation:
Security is probably the first and most important piece of the puzzle. With breaches so prevalent in the news, organizations must place security as a top priority in accordance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) to prevent the theft of medical records and private information. It’s important for IT executives to provide software tools including audit logs to monitor the flow of information and abnormal activity. In the meantime, it’s also important to conduct penetration testing and vulnerability scans to make sure everything is locked down.
The second theme is that of User Access, which concerns accessibility. Having a hold on identity and access management is important due to the sensitive nature of the healthcare field. Keep track of each and every user who logs into your cloud environment and inform administrators of inconsistent activity. Regular audits of the system are helpful as well.
Third is Development. As DevOps becomes a regular part of every technology strategy, healthcare firms are adopting continuous deployment and innovation tools to ensure their infrastructure is up to date. With platforms like CloudBees Jenkins and Pivotal, respective IT managers and developers can deploy solutions at a faster and continuous rate to ensure that operations continue to run smoothly. Furthermore, team members can also easily collaborate, reducing inefficiencies and downtime.
Finally, we touch on Integration. As healthcare institutions move into the cloud, they run into the inevitable issue of matching their new technologies with older legacy platforms. Thankfully there’s Integration Platform-as-a-Service (iPaaS) from Dell Boomi AtomSphere, which connects technologies including customer relationship management (CRM), enterprise resource planning (ERP), social networking, and HR tools to create a much more effective IT system. In the end, technology can last longer and serve a greater useful purpose.
Check Your Organization’s Health
Is your healthcare organization ready to head into the cloud? Do you agree with our list of priorities? Let us know in the comments below or send us your thoughts at cloud@perficient.com.
If you’re also looking to learn more about DevOps, join us on October 18 in St. Louis for a cloud workshop with Pivotal. Register here.
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