As per McKinsey report, cloud computing can help healthcare organizations generate value of up to $170 billion by 2030. Cloud can accelerate innovation, achieve greater automation, and better implementation of IoT (Internet of Things) across multiple use cases. Additionally, COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the need for healthcare providers to move towards digital transformation. Cloud Testing Services are helping businesses to implement cloud technologies flawlessly.
However, there are several healthcare organizations that are yet to realize the full potential of cloud due to multiple reasons. Healthcare businesses are focused more on short-term cost saving on IT infrastructure. It takes up to 36 months to realize the actual value of cloud transformation. Organizations are also reluctant to adapt to new ways of working and operational models that work best with cloud technology.
Here are a few healthcare categories that can reap benefits from cloud technology.
- Medical management – Leverage AI-driven patient engagement to improve patient outcome.
- Personalized experience – Deliver more integrated and personalized experience through engaging both formal and informal caregivers. It will help in improving productivity and outcomes while staying cost-effective.
- Member acquisition – Make data –driven decisions to identify the right target group for more efficient marketing. It can also help you pick the right marketing channel and strategy.
- Value-based care – Offer more value-based care services and products as more providers and payers come into the risk-bearing arrangements.
- Home health – Desing and offer tech-enabled care models like telemedicine at scale without compromising on availability and quality.
Cloud computing can help healthcare organizations offer a unified customer experience across channels including mobile, computer, app, chat, IVR, and more. Cloud can help MedTech companies identify potential interventions, recommend optimal care pathways, and drive better member outcomes by connecting and analyzing disparate sources of data to create an end-to-end view of members.
MedTech companies need to realize that cloud offers an opportunity to accelerate revenue growth by improving coverage and achieving greater operational efficiency. Cloud can give unlimited access to computing power and data. The borderless connectivity, faster computing power and auto scaling can enable companies to stay asset-light and grow at a faster pace. Cloud can also enable MedTech businesses to leverage artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML) and cognitive services within critical functions.
Cloud offers immense possibilities for MedTech companies
Here is how cloud can transform MedTech companies and enable accelerated growth:
Easier data handling
Healthcare organizations need to handle a lot of data including contact and personal information of patients, appointment and medical history, insurance details, payment records and more. Structuring and processing heaps of data is humanly impossible. Manual processing could also lead to errors and could attract expensive lawsuits. Cloud-based data management tools are more productive, accessible and offer actionable insights. It can also enable patients to fill up primary personal and insurance information which can be updated in real time. Cloud can also help you meet HIPAA compliance more easily.
Embedding AI and ML capabilities into the cloud can bring more operational efficiency and accuracy. Healthcare providers can leverage predictive analytics to plan and manage healthcare operations more efficiently.
Decrease time to market
With rapidly evolving technologies and customer needs, MedTech companies need to become more agile and responsive towards market demands. Cloud can enable faster development as it offers better resource availability for developers and helps release higher quality software with a shorter time to market.
Cloud services can help companies launch a scalable application within a fraction of time. Cloud services also offer better security and regulatory compliance for data handling. You can easily maintain data integrity and ensure easy data recovery without compromising on security and performance of the software.
More accessible for patients and healthcare professionals
MedTech companies can offer robust telemedicine services to patients who are unable to visit the hospital or live in faraway places. Remote consultation can help in minimizing the need to visit brick and mortar healthcare facilities.
Telemedicine can also enable regular communication between patients and healthcare provider after surgery for more effective monitoring. Care givers can also leverage telemedicine to remind timely consumption of medicines, checkups and more. Cloud-connected telemedicine devices can also enable physicians to monitor vitals of a patient without visiting them. It can help to make quicker decisions and save lives.
Better interaction between clinics and patients
MedTech companies can enable both patients and healthcare staff access test and lab report online, notification of updates, and track treatment dynamics. Access to data in real-time also prevents doctors from overprescribing medications to a patient.
Better collaboration
With all the data stored in a centralized cloud database, different healthcare providers can access the patient record at any point in time without any added layer of communication. Instant availability of data makes the diagnosis more accurate and decreases the risk of late treatment.
Innovation
MedTech has moved away from just hardware, electronics and software. With digital components and cloud network capabilities into play, possibilities are immense. MedTech is shifting from traditional healthcare hospitals and provider settings towards smaller facilities and home care.
For instance, ambulatory surgical centers have become a new trend in orthopedics. This has helped in offering better end-to-end care solutions for patients with new supply partnerships and logistics. These centers need more than surgical robots and instruments. They can be operated successfully with an end-to-end solution that can facilitate upfront surgical planning to post operation recovery of the patient. Here cloud services can help in managing all the software and equipment cost-efficiently, reliable and at scale.
Wrapping Up
Cloud computing has massively impacted the healthcare industry. It has helped healthcare providers reduce the cost of care, improve communication among providers and patients and the quality of treatment. With new-age Medical Device Testing increasing rapidly, reliance of MedTech companies on cloud is poised to increase exponentially.
Cloud has become the primary enabler of next generation healthcare businesses to accelerate innovation and growth. MedTech companies with a cloud-first approach are better positioned to build new partnership opportunities and offer advanced services.
