According to a new report by research firm In-Stat, healthcare is becoming the fastest growing vertical in the information technology field, and cloud-based services are leading the way.
Cloud computing represents a contagious mixture of cost advantages, efficiency, and flexibility that’s difficult to match, particularly for small to medium-sized practices who want an elegant and effective EHR today.
Still, the amount of statistics on the issue is dizzying. Read on to find out how one particular clinic uses cloud computing to get – and stay – ahead.
Cloud-Computing Business Case: South Florida Medicine
South Florida Medicine rapidly grew from a single specialty in radiation to a multi-specialty practice that now includes 30 doctors, 50 staff members, and 7 locations. The rapid business growth drove South Florida Medicine to rethink its in-house IT solution, which was proving inadequate to meet the business needs for easier access to data and multi-level reporting.
After considered evaluation, South Florida Medicine chose CareCloud as its healthcare IT platform to consolidate data and workflow for multiple locations.
Security and processing power of Terremark and Intel
For advanced IT infrastructure services, CareCloud partners with Terremark, a leader in transforming and securing enterprise-class IT on a global scale. As a supplier to global enterprises and government agencies, its data centers, infrastructure and technology platforms are monitored and secured at levels that exceed the requirements of HIPAA and HITECH, as well as other financial and reporting regulations.
Terremark’s enterprise-class platforms and comprehensive security practices set the standard for implementing cloud services on a global scale. Servers based on the Intel Xeon processor E5 family offer hardware-assisted security features that support Terremark’s own security programs. Several innovative capabilities integrated into these platforms help reduce the typical data bottlenecks in cloud solutions. Intel’s platform enables businesses to scale their solutions within their existing data center footprint to accommodate business growth. And its extensible colocation services drive down the cost of IT operations.
“Intel and Terremark collaborate extensively on hardware-assisted security solutions,” said Mario Santana, vice president of secure information services for Terremark. “This ensures Terremark- hosted customers, such as CareCloud, are able to take advantage of advanced security capabilities as they come to market.”
Results support a growing
medical organization
For South Florida Medicine, the organization can grow quickly without having to add expensive servers in-house or expand their IT department. Because of their choice in cloud-computing services, when the organization adds a new practice, its members can easily be given access to the apps and IT platform.
Most importantly, privacy, security, and compliance concerns are no longer placed only on the shoulders of South Florida Medicine, as these issues are being managed in a secure way that meets, and most often exceeds, industry regulations and standards.
“Practice management is the lifeblood of medical organizations, just as ERP and CRM are for other businesses,” said Ravi Patel, managing partner of South Florida Medicine Radiation Oncology. “Using CareCloud’s software and services has given us the ability to scale quickly, bringing the different practices onto one practice management platform.”
By choosing the scalability and support of cloud-computing solutions for practice management, South Florida Medicine can concentrate on the growth of their organization, and not on the issues surrounding IT. Business decisions are now informed by the ability to analyze data from individual clinical practices and across the organization.
Make your way back to Power Your Practice next week to read about how organizations need to adapt to changes in the practice management landscape EHRs present.
Do you know what you need when setting up a new medical practice?