Cloud EMR and Trust Security

During years of economic downturn and healthcare upheaval, many companies and medical practices have been hit hard with lower revenues and sinking margins. Software as a service, SaaS, is one of many options that industries are turning toward to save money to protect their most valuable information instead of paying thousands of dollars to install software on their computers.

The cost of a traditional model of implementing software or even simple anti-virus protection sums up exponentially; You have to pay for an investment in software and hardware, as well as the ongoing time and effort spent supporting, patching, and maintaining the system (Harbert). SaaS, or the Cloud, offers antivirus protection among many other security incentives. Hospitality and food, healthcare, social services, and retail trade are a few of the top vertical markets in the cloud that are turning toward SaaS.

Industries where it is vital that privacy is not infiltrated, such as the healthcare industry, need to continuously think of ways to protect themselves against malicious viruses as well as possible blunders extracted from written documentation. By implementing electronic medical records as well as other cloud services, healthcare providers are able to gain assurance that their data will be safe without having to rely on their own servers. As well as saving money, cloud services increase the speed of daily processes and applications.

The government is pushing the medical industry towards acclimatizing itself with electronic medical and health records. Software as a service is part of a semi-new idea, along with IaaS, Infrastructure as a Service, that is involved with cloud computing. Not only does the proposal of a cloud make "security" for the medical industry more expedient, it also makes it safer. It improves efficiency and patient care by providing a convenient, accurate way for patients and physicians to have secure access to key medical data. It facilitates information-sharing between primary care physicians and specialists while improving tasks such as charting, billing and reporting. (WRS)

As many people know, most doctors spend time both in clinics as well as their local hospitals. Because of this, they need access to data and applications from multiple locations. This is what makes cloud computing and SaaS an ideal solution. Waiting Room Solutions (www.waitingroomsolutions.com) is a SaaS company that provides web based electronic medical and health records to the healthcare industry across theUnited States. They customize their software to each individual practice and include over 32 specialties, making it easier for doctors to spend more time with their patients, and less time with the administrative work.

Waiting Room Solutions is just one of many up-and-coming EMR SaaS company's. According to a firm in Arizona, In-Stat, the SaaS market is expected to grow 142% from 2010 to 2015. Overall cloud computing IaaS, SaaS and PaaS, Platform as a service, will grow 153% during same years (Violino). It is a continuously growing industry, and one that the health care industry cannot disregard. Sooner than later, all practices will be using the cloud and web EMR software. It increases efficiency while decreasing cost. To this day, many healthcare practices are already on 'Cloud 9,' where are you?

(Sending the Cloud- Bob Violino [Channel Advisor p. 24-26])

(A Matter of Trust- Tam Harbert [Channel Advisor p. 10])

(www.waitingroomsolutions.com)

(http://www.waitingroomsolutions.com/wrs/Blogs/2011/april/28/27-billion-reasons-give-emr-try)

In an article written by Katherine Rourke titled ‘Ready Or Not, Cloud Based EMRs Getting More Popular’, Rourke exclaimed that “the more she read about cloud deployments of EMRs, the more it appears that something useful is going on.”

In her article, Rourke stated that “cloud-based models of EMR deployment seem to be easier and more flexible to use than some SaaS models, as client users most certainly won’t need to download additional apps or even browser scripts to use them.”

I want to clarify that there are a select number of EMR vendors who actually implement cloud based EMR that are considered SaaS. Some vendors require that you have to download at least some software, but I know of one EMR vendor who is completely cloud based and considered a SaaS company. Waiting Room Solutions is a completely cloud based EMR enterprise system. You don’t have to download any software to use their system; All one needs is an active internet connection and for the most compatibility, the Internet Explorer web browser.

On the topic of cloud security, there has been an industry concern that cloud based EMR systems are more vulnerable to cyber attacks and other security risks. This is not necessarily true. In the healthcare industry, it is vital that privacy is not infiltrated. Patient data needs to be protected against malicious viruses as well as blunders by practice employees. By implementing electronic medical records into their system, healthcare providers are able to gain assurance that their data will be safe without having to rely on their own servers. Not only does the implementation of a cloud based EMR make security for the medical industry more expedient, it also improves efficiency and patient care by providing a convenient, accurate way for patients and physicians to have secure access to key medical data.

While security continues to be a top issue for any EMR system, security in a cloud based EMR system is actually better than a client based server EMR. An in-house EMR system is less likely to be encrypted, ultimately making it less safe.

EMR Vendors that offer software as a service are likelier to have a more secure encryption and control of the data than any individual practice would have with an in-house personal server.

The fact is, with in-house client servers instead of a cloud based EMR, there is a risk of poor training and data vulnerability. With a cloud based EMR, someone else (the EMR Vendor) has to worry about all the backup procedures.

It’s important to put your trust into web based cloud EMR systems. The real issue with protecting this data is the question of who is actually responsible for your data. Someone has to be in charge, and wouldn’t you rather it be a company who knows what it takes to protect your most valuable and private information?