Healthcare Transformation Summit Insights Gleaned in an Evolving Scenario
Healthcare Embraces Cloud Adoption for Digital Transformation
At the CDW Healthcare Industry Transformation Summit in Las Vegas, key trends in cloud adoption for healthcare organizations were discussed. The focus was on security, compliance, and scalability, with an aim to leverage cloud for advanced analytics, hybrid environments, and innovation in patient care.
The summit highlighted the challenges healthcare organizations face in their cloud journey, such as navigating complex regulatory compliance requirements, managing data privacy concerns, and addressing the technical complexity of migrating healthcare workloads to cloud environments. Overcoming legacy system integration and ensuring cloud adoption aligns with healthcare providers’ goals for operational efficiency and improved patient outcomes were also key topics.
CDW’s 2022 summit underscored that healthcare organizations view cloud as a strategic enabler for digital transformation, yet face ongoing challenges ensuring security, compliance, and seamless integration in a highly regulated environment. The event emphasized the need for trusted cloud partnerships and tailored solutions to address these challenges effectively.
Security hygiene was identified as a critical aspect, with the need for it to be part of an organization's DNA, similar to clinical hygiene in a hospital. David Chou, a healthcare technology executive and adviser, shared lessons learned from the event about workforce changes, security hygiene, and healthcare IT predictions for the coming years.
Chou predicted the use of a central platform for digital patient access, the need for better data collection and analysis, and the adoption of voice solutions using natural language processing to address clinician burnout in healthcare technology trends for 2023. He also emphasized the importance of operational transformation beyond digital transformation in healthcare, suggesting healthcare organizations consider creating key partnerships to turn their data into meaningful insights.
Despite the growing adoption of cloud in healthcare, it's still growing relatively slowly compared with other industries. Many healthcare organizations are neither cloud-native nor have a cloud-first approach. However, some healthcare CISOs are starting to understand that managed services can help address security concerns due to the prevalence of security issues in the industry.
Cloud migrations are onboard with healthcare executives, but some have concerns about additional cost expenditure if they have already made major investments to an on-premises system. The summit was attended by healthcare executives, including CIOs and CTOs, as well as guests from Microsoft, NetApp, Snowflake, and CrowdStrike.
Chou's insights on the evolution of the CIO role in healthcare were shared at CHIME22. He stressed that the role of the CIO is evolving, with a focus shifting from technology to overall organizational growth and problem-solving. Healthcare supply chain management is an area with potential for operational transformation, but many organizations have not changed their operations in over a decade.
One complicated piece of cloud migration for healthcare organizations is renegotiating and updating contracts when moving top 15% of their portfolio from on-premises to the cloud. The CDW Healthcare industry transformation summit, held in Las Vegas in late September 2022, also discussed healthcare's move to the cloud and related topics, including digital patient access and the use of software as a service options to help organizations adopt cloud technology.
Nutanix's 2022 Enterprise Cloud Index identifies data integration across clouds, cost management, and performance issues with network overlays as top challenges in multicloud adoption in healthcare. Security remains a top concern for healthcare executives, and it should be an organization-wide initiative rather than just the responsibility of the CIO or CTO.
[1] Microsoft Azure Government tailors cloud services for mission-critical environments emphasizing security, compliance, and hybrid flexibility, all essential in healthcare’s unique context. [3] The healthcare sector’s push for cloud adoption aligns with overall cloud market dynamics, including significant growth projections and prioritization of industry-specific cloud offerings, enhanced security, and sovereign cloud solutions.
Technology, particularly cloud services, plays a crucial role in healthcare's digital transformation, as highlighted at the CDW Healthcare Industry Transformation Summit. Microsoft Azure Government, with its focus on security, compliance, and hybrid flexibility, is tailored for mission-critical environments, making it an essential consideration for the unique needs of the healthcare sector.
