Health Cloud checklist: 5 criteria for choosing the right cloud solution

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What you should pay attention to and which criteria play a role at all, this checklist would like to help you. So that you can find a reliable and secure health cloud that meets your needs.

For one provider, Health Cloud means a backend solution for health apps, for another, a network for doctors or an exchange platform for medical documents and / or DICOM images, still others refer to external long-term archives as Health Cloud. The selection of health clouds is huge, the differences are large, so it is difficult to compare.

Public, private or hybrid cloud

There are three main types of health cloud solutions: public, private and hybrid cloud. Accessibility, low maintenance and scalability are the greatest advantages of a public cloud. The biggest disadvantage: You need a stable internet connection so that the public cloud is always accessible. A private cloud, however, is associated with high costs. Implementation and customization is expensive and scalability can be difficult. A dedicated IT department is also required, which makes the solution rather unsuitable for smaller practices. A hybrid cloud combines the possibilities of a public with a private cloud. A hybrid cloud is also more cost-effective than a private cloud. However, implementation and adaptation can make later changes more difficult.

All three solutions – public, private and hybrid cloud – offer their advantages for healthcare IT. No matter which variant you choose, data protection and data security play a major role for everyone. Which health cloud you ultimately choose should not depend on the question "Which solution is the safest?", But rather on the question "Which health cloud best fits our budget and is the easiest for us to implement?".

data protection

You cannot pay enough attention to data protection and encryption. Very important here: How is the user data encrypted by the Health Cloud? The most important thing is that the data is not only transmitted encrypted, but also stored encrypted – consistently and on the client side, most securely asymmetrically with a private and a public key. The provider should under no circumstances be able to access this data without the patient's consent. In the case of Healh Cloud services, which are operated by health insurance companies or on their behalf, das on possible exclusion criterion,

Pay particular attention to the location of the operator which stores user data. Prefer data centers in Germany to those in the U.S.A. or elsewhere in the world. However, even German subsidiaries of US parent companies may be required to disclose their user data. It is therefore not only important that the provider's data centers are located in Germany. We also wrote a comment on the subject.

Is the Health Cloud certified with a data protection seal of approval? Great. Here the operators have taken the trouble to have data protection checked by an external body. Also visit the website of the certification body to convince yourself of the correctness of the information, the independence of the certification body and the certification effort.

vendor independence

To ensure that the new Health Cloud integrates seamlessly into your practice or clinic software, pay attention to the greatest possible interoperability and open standards. The Health Cloud should have manufacturer-independent interfaces such as DICOM and HL7, to which, at best, third-party providers can also securely connect their applications. Learn more about our software development kit for developers >>

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The range of functions depends primarily on what you really need for your practice or clinic. But you should also consider which functions are likely to be necessary in the near and distant future. Many health cloud solutions can save and transmit findings, prescriptions, laboratory reports or medication plans or offer the protected online ehealth consultation. But only few health clouds can save and transfer DICOM images and thus enable background services, online tumor boards or second reports. In addition, bei a patient-centered health cloud the patient, to whom he provides his medical data for how long and for what purpose. This has many advantages.

Customer Service

Take a close look at the customer support provided by the Health Cloud operator, after all you want to feel well looked after and receive competent help if you have any questions. What does the employee structure look like and what is the level of expertise of the individual support staff? For example, if a team leader leads more than 30 team members, coaching and quality are difficult to ensure. Or if there is no organized form of internal knowledge transfer e.g. through an intranet or similar, knowledge gaps of individual employees can not close so quickly. The best way to gain authentic insights into the company is to ask customers and get references.

This post first appeared in the Radiology magazine 1-2018

Photo: pexels.com

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