The vast majority of healthcare executives report that digital/artificial intelligence (AI) transformation is among their organizations’ highest priorities. However, 75% say they lack the planning or resources needed to make it happen. Additionally, 68% say their workforce is not ready to implement new technology.
Healthcare organizations are increasingly turning to the cloud to enable their digital roadmaps—and increasingly hosting through a cloud partner to help pave the way. Here are three priority areas to consider when evaluating your cloud hosting options.
Centering cybersecurity
In a large global survey of cybersecurity professionals, 58% of respondents reported skills gaps within their teams have put their organizations at significant risk. This finding is alarming considering the frequency and scale of cyberattacks in healthcare: In 2024, nearly 700 data breaches affected more than 182 million people in the U.S. alone.
Healthcare IT professionals know it’s not a question of if your organization will become a target of malicious actors, but when. And if your cybersecurity team is not adequately staffed, it’s time to weigh the cost of hosting against the patient risks and financial losses associated with breaches.
A cloud hosting partner should bring a proactive, prescriptive and preventative approach to your cybersecurity. Proactivity is key so that your system is constantly being monitored for threats instead of only playing defense. A cloud hosting partner must have established programs for identity and access, implement and constantly evolve a zero-trust network model, and regularly perform penetration tests and vulnerability scans. They should have tested and established methodologies and guidelines for robust incident response and recovery in place, ready to act upon when threats are detected.
Many public cloud platforms such as Microsoft Azure offer real-time, AI-driven threat detection, automated alerts and other essential capabilities. A hosting partner can help ensure your organization takes full advantage of the features offered by the cloud provider and stays ahead of evolving threats.
Prioritizing performance
Approximately 96% of hospitals and 80% of office-based physicians have implemented a certified EHR. Yet anyone who has used EHR systems can tell you speed and performance differ widely from system to system.
When your providers are focused on the patient in the room, the last thing they need is to be held up by a slow system. As compared to on-premises EHRs, cloud-hosted systems often provide faster data access and processing speeds so your teams can move quickly and decisively, with real-time data on hand.
An effective cloud hosting partner can help your organization keep the EHR running at peak performance by integrating tools that monitor key metrics like back-end transaction times and network latency while correlating these to end-user response. Most cloud platforms also have an evergreen technology approach where better performing hardware is introduced regularly. A cloud hosting partner should be attuned to these opportunities and help you take advantage of the benefits for your organization seamlessly.
Additionally, when your hosting partner has resources dedicated specifically to your organization, they can optimize the system further with your unique needs in mind. For example, working with a hosting partner, Phoenix Children’s Hospital was able to roll out IT systems and software at a brand new facility within days, rather than weeks or months, making data accessible from any location across the health system.
Attuning to availability
Your IT systems are only as good as they are accessible, and maintaining EHR availability has been a longstanding challenge for many healthcare organizations. Whether planned or unplanned, EHR downtime threatens patient safety and impedes informed clinical decision-making while patient data is unavailable. Additionally, downtime can cost your organization thousands of dollars per minute, cutting further into already shrinking margins.
Cloud hosting can give healthcare leaders greater peace of mind with regards to system availability as many cloud providers leverage multiple data centers with geographic redundancy. From cyberthreats to natural disasters, this provides a greater level of protection and backup than traditional, on-premises systems, keeping crucial data at the fingertips of those who need it.
Hosting for your organization’s health
Technology vendors may paint a vivid picture of what tomorrow’s healthcare could be, but healthcare leaders know they must make sense of their own organization’s reality today. With the right hosting partner, you can make your system work for you, rather than against you, without skipping a beat. Learn how you can better enable your clinicians, empower your patients and transform your organization with cloud hosting services from Altera Digital Health here.