COVID-19 Impact on Cloud Computing in Healthcare Industry

The COVID-19 outbreak has remolded the conventional proceedings of healthcare organizations amidst overburdening and lack of resources. Market players that were solely dependent on hosted IT infrastructure and deficient cloud framework are grappling to keep operations smooth especially as the need for virtual consulting, mhealth & telemedicine is increasing. Then again, cutting edge cloud-first new companies that have received cloud innovation route before the COVID-19 emergency are stamping its focal points even in current conditions. Providing an answer to the limitations of hosted infrastructure, the cloud has given a platform to comply with the security regulations in healthcare, made it simpler to adjust to operational work process change, guaranteed a consistent patient-provider coordinated effort, and helped grasp a new health environment reality. As a result, cloud computing has proved to be of immense use for healthcare industry in these times.
With the coronavirus outbreak, emergency clinics and centers are being overwhelmed with the patients. The measure of information that should be created or shared and the speed at which it needs to happen is putting additional strain on overburdened medicinal services experts, fortunately for them, cloud computing could give a speedy, secure, and cost effective arrangement.
Cloud computing offers several advantages when it comes to ease of deployment overall cost, server management, scalability, speed, and security. The adoption of cloud computing is increasing in the aftermath of the pandemic in the healthcare industry as a necessity. However, several companies are facing different degrees of challenges while adopting this new infrastructure. According to the annual survey conducted by RightScale on the latest cloud trends named State of the Cloud Survey, businesses need to address below challenges for cloud adoption.
Figure 1: Challenges of Businesses in Cloud Adoption

the other hand, one of the primary advantages of cloud-based systems for healthcare is that managing data is no more a responsibility of the healthcare provider. With cloud service professionals keeping a watch and managing the system, healthcare providers are able to focus on other important facets of their responsibilities without deploying additional resources.
With cloud computing, it is easier to oversee the services that are paid for and take decisions that are cost-effective. By making a custom plan to fit the needs of the healthcare provider, a more cost-effective plan can be created than setting up own systems.
Cloud computing is also playing a major role in data sharing. During the COVID-19 outbreak, the need for sharing patient data across the healthcare system is higher than ever. Moreover, healthcare systems and its related parts create a great deal of information. For instance, clinical pictures and patient health information make up a ton of information. This information for the patient's whole lifetime needs to be stored, kept secure and shared with utmost reliability. Earlier on-premises systems capacity is badly designed and cloud registering gives a simpler alternative.
With expansion of data, speed is of crucial significance. Cloud computing makes it simple to transfer, share, and recuperate information across different healthcare systems. It additionally enables healthcare providers to make changes quicker. Data sharing and correspondence between hospitals, surgery centers, emergency clinics, and other healthcare providers has become easier with the adoption of cloud computing. During the pandemic, time is crucial and cloud computing can help in saving time.
Cloud processing has made some amazing progress with regards to tending to security concerns. The utilization of private and cross breed cloud frameworks has guaranteed that the clinical and health reimbursement related information of a patient stay secure. For instance, if a medical clinic has a virtual consultation service for patients, there can be a protected trade of information between the patient and the clinic utilizing cloud frameworks. As healthcare providers are attempting to increase application of telemedicine, cloud computing is anticipated to become necessary even after the pandemic subsides.
Cloud services are usually available in three types – IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service), PaaS (Platform as a Service), and SaaS (Software as a Service). The below table summarizes the differences between hosted infrastructure and the three types of cloud computing services.

Table 1: Differentiation among Hosted, IaaS, PaaS, SaaS
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