Despite the popularity of the cloud in other industries, healthcare adoption has been slower. Healthcare professionals identify security and privacy concerns as reasons for low adoption rates. Among the reasons is the disproportionately higher cost of investigating data breaches.
According to Ponemon Institute, the average cost-per-record in a healthcare breach is $402 – 80% higher than the U.S. average, and about twice the average of the retail sector. Therefore, having an organization other than itself “in control” of the protected health information (PHI)-laden data was seen as a risk that was not worth taking. However, the 2013 introduction of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Omnibus final rule dramatically changed the responsibility paradigm as it required healthcare service providers, e.g. those “other organizations,” to similarly be responsible for properly using and processing data containing PHI. This regulatory change, in turn, provided some key protections and controls for healthcare organizations, which created a more receptive attitude for considering leveraging the cloud.
Yes, HIPAA changes did contribute to facilitating the change in attitude for cloud consideration within healthcare. However, when considering the value proposition for leveraging the cloud, organizations typically consider the primary drivers of faster deployment, scalability, cost / IT investment, and access to new advanced IT capabilities.
In our guide, 4 Drivers for Healthcare Cloud Adoption, we explore additional drivers for cloud adoption in healthcare and provide examples of clients that have successfully moved to the cloud.
