The rise and popularity of cloud storage
Many small and large medical practices and facilities are depending more and more on cloud storage. Cloud storage gives medical practices the flexibility to access their data across a variety of electronic devices while eliminating the costs and difficulties associated with maintaining a physical storage system on site. This allows the clinic to focus their resources and attention on patient care but still have a piece of mind that their data is stored in a safe and secure location. Often, before adopting cloud storage, many medical practices may question the security of cloud storage to store sensitive patient data.
What exactly is the cloud?
In recent years, the word cloud computing has become popular for consumer use and business alike. Cloud computing can cover vast area of computing needs that may include software use, computer processing power, and cloud storage. Cloud storage is a network of remote servers that functions to store data offsite in multiple locations. Often the data is not stored locally on your computer hard drive. This eliminates the need to have an IT staff to support the computer infrastructure needed to secure the data your clinic generates. Cloud storage provides a secure and efficient method to store and backup your clinic’s medical data because the data is mirrored on multiple servers across different locations. Access to your data is as simple as a click of button.
Is cloud computing safe?
Because of the popularity and low maintenance cost of cloud storage, cloud storage is being adopted by small and large medical clinics. Despite the rate of adoption, there is legitimate concern about the security of cloud storage. The recent news of large data breach from some hospitals and business can cause some clinics who are thinking about cloud storage to pause at the thought of adopting cloud storage for their medical data. Cloud storage service offerings from some business can muddy the water even because the services they offer may not meet the security requirement and law mandated by the government to store patient data. Medical cloud storage service providers must ensure that their services meet the health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) in how they secure patient protected health information (PHI). A business that suffers a breach of unencrypted PHI can be fine, and if found negligent the business reputation can be damage. For this reason, patient information should be encrypted to prevent unauthorized access, access to files are restricted to only privileged users, and the data must be backed up.
Because of the strict security measure set for storing and accessing PHI, the products and services Datafied offer meets the rigor and compliance set by HIPAA. Datafied offers software solutions with HIPAA compliance in mind for any of your clinic’s data storage needs. The services we offer ranges from document digitization, and electronic health information medical record integration. If your clinic is considering digitizing and storing medical data, call our data specialist at 800-765-7510 to discuss solutions that will fit your clinic’s data need.
