Hospitals need security solutions before upgrading to cloud computing

Friday, January 13, 2012

The emerging healthcare market in the cloud computing industry has enormous potential for growth, but concerns over patient confidentiality underneath the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) are causing slower than desired integration of cloud technology.

There are some concerns over bandwidth capability and connectivity issues, but the main fear is the risk of legal action that can happen as a result of leaked data. The UCLA Health System paid out $865,500 in fines relating to a lawsuit that proved unauthorized access to celebrity health information. HIPAA is very rigid legislature, and the promise of high availability brings with it the added risk of security violations.

In order for a hospital to properly secure sensitive patient information, officials need to encrypt the data through a security services provider. A managed service provider could supply remote infrastructure management off-site, and centralize VPN security to ensure that only authorized parties gain access to critical data.

The benefits that the cloud can provide hospitals and the healthcare industry with are innumerable, and as cloud services evolve, there is hope that a managed solution will provide improved healthcare function to all.