What are the Cost Implications of Implementing Cloud Technology in Healthcare?

We have talked about implementing cloud technology in healthcare a lot, but there are still a lot of gray areas, such as the cost implications. Will it increase or reduce healthcare costs? More importantly, if we are looking to switch from the traditional on-premises infrastructure, how do the costs compare? Both in where we are today and in the long run? In search of some answers to these questions, we reached out to our incredibly talented Healthcare IT Today Community. The following are their thoughts on this pressing topic. Zach Evans, Chief Technology Officer at XSOLIS The largest change for organizations implementing cloud technology — and one of the main benefits touted by cloud providers — is the ability to only pay for what you need. You’re moving from a capital-intensive, up-front cost model where you are paying for fixed capacity (plus additional, currently unnecessary capacity to allow for future growth) towards a variable cost basis, driven by consumption and utilization. This change can free up a great deal of capital but can also lead to challenges for new solutions with unknown or difficult-to-estimate usage patterns. Already, there are vendors sprouting up that help manage both fixed- and flexible-capacity spending, so companies can optimize spending and minimize surprises. The need and market for these kinds of companies will only continue to grow in the future. There’s also danger in thinking that simply migrating an existing workload to the cloud w...
Source: EMR and HIPAA - Category: Information Technology Authors: Tags: Ambulatory C-Suite Leadership Health IT Company Healthcare IT Hospital - Health System IT Infrastructure and Dev Ops LTPAC Security and Privacy 4medica Annmarie Ison AT&T Cybersecurity Charlie Clarke Chris Lance Cloud Cloud in Source Type: blogs