According to a study by the German digital association Bitkom, cloud computing has successfully established itself in Germany and is now facing a phase of rapid growth. The study shows that within the next five years, 56 percent of all companies intend to run more than half of their IT applications in the cloud. This represents a significant increase, as currently only 15 percent of companies use their IT applications in the cloud.
Cloud technologies as enablers for intersectoral care
Intersectoral care in the healthcare system is currently not functioning adequately, although there are regional projects that show what is possible. However, the scalability of these successes remains a challenge. The question is what the German healthcare system needs to achieve better intersectoral collaboration across the board.
Cloud technologies are seen as a potential enabler for intersectoral care because they offer maximum horizontal scalability and flexibility. A study was conducted to interview ten decision makers from different healthcare sectors and to conduct an online survey with over 100 stakeholders. It was found that a lack of information sharing and communication is seen as the biggest problem for intersectoral care. The experts also discuss positive examples where intersectoral care has already been successfully implemented, such as drug therapy safety and networking platforms for data exchange.
Cloud technologies in healthcare
The use of cloud technologies in healthcare is seen as promising. According to a study by Flying Health, over 90 percent of respondents believe that cloud technologies can strengthen intersectoral collaboration. There are many reasons for the increased use of cloud technologies, including location-independent working, improved IT security and attractiveness as an employer.
The three main reasons for using cloud technologies
The increased use of cloud technologies is being driven by a variety of reasons. In particular, the following three aspects were frequently mentioned:
1. work independent of location
Location-independent access to relevant data in healthcare is gaining importance and increasing the attractiveness of the profession for nurses and medical staff. Cloud solutions facilitate collaboration and enable a shift to a location-independent performance and working world in healthcare.
2. increased IT security
Healthcare stakeholders face the challenge of protecting their critical infrastructures from increasingly professional attacks and will no longer be able to do this alone in the future. According to Dr. Carsten Giehoff of the Sister Euthymia Foundation, cloud solutions enable security responsibility to be passed on to specialists and offer advantages such as the implementation of financially unfeasible redundancies. This assessment is shared by Sebastian Polag of Agaplesion gAG, who emphasizes that the need to store data oneself often poses more risks than a secure cloud solution, as supported by 91 percent of respondents in a survey.
3. attractiveness as an employer through modern software environment
According to Robert Bruns from Barmer, a modern cloud environment is considered standard and increases the attractiveness as an employer, especially for developers and the younger generation. In addition, cloud technologies can relieve the team and free up more resources for supply-related IT projects.
Autor
Peter Salathe
Peter Salathe has gained extensive experience in networked healthcare and is part of the m.Doc team as Head of Public Affairs. He accompanies the development and implementation of intelligent health services for the m.Doc Smart Health Platform with communication towards associations and politics. With his expertise he shapes the future of healthcare and writes the contributions to the monthly news briefing “Digital Health Affairs”.