How the Cloud Transforms Healthcare: The Rise of EMR and Privacy Implications
As I prepared to write this article about how electronic medical records (EMRs) change the healthcare game and what that means for privacy, I was reminded of a text message I received five years ago from my young nephew.
"Hi, uncle! Did you know that doctors used to keep all their patient records on paper?"
My reply: "Yes, it was written on paper. It's true! But now, they use electronic medical records (EMRs) instead."
So, as I sat down to examine the current state of EMRs in healthcare, I wanted to answer two questions:
What has technology done for us in healthcare, specifically cloud technology?
What is the advancement of cloud-native applications, compliance, and security?
Switching from paper to EMRs has made things much easier for doctors and patients. However, it has also raised concerns about keeping all that sensitive data safe and private.
The Transformative Implications of EMR
EMRs have made a big difference in healthcare. A study published in JAMA Network Open revealed that EMRs have helped reduce the risk of suicide by predicting it ahead of time. The research, which involved almost four million patients, found that the most common predictors were mental health conditions like borderline personality disorder and bipolar disorder, as well as substance use disorders like drug withdrawal syndrome.
To gather all this data, they used a Federated Network Model connected to ARCH (Accessible Research Commons for Health) to access information from ten different health systems. With cloud technology, they analyzed the data quickly and efficiently, enabling informed decisions such as the one made in Japan regarding using blue lights for train traffic.
The digitization of health records has also made it easier to provide personalized treatments based on each individual's unique genetic makeup, environment, and lifestyle. This technological advancement is truly remarkable and has the potential to significantly improve healthcare outcomes.
The Privacy Paradox: Navigating the New Normal
The benefits of EMRs can be amazing, but they come with some big challenges. One of the biggest is making sure patients' privacy is protected. EMRs on the Cloud let us share information easily, but that can also mean that some bad actors might get access to stuff they shouldn't.
To keep patient data safe, cloud providers and implementors must use tight security measures, adhere to HIPAA regulations, and ensure everything is encrypted. Plus, everyone who works with EMRs needs to know how to keep things secure and not let anyone in who shouldn't have access.
When storing EMR data in the cloud, healthcare providers can take advantage of the following:
Accessibility. Healthcare providers require immediate access to patient records, speeding up decision-making. Unlike the ARCH network mentioned before, the cloud wouldn’t need additional infrastructure. In addition, we suggest a cloud-agnostic solution based on tools like Terraform to build everything with automation as a goal and secured from configuration to deployment.
Cost-Efficiency. Cloud storage requires less upfront investment than setting up and maintaining physical servers. Also, there is a hidden cost of all the mistakes related to human errors with manual storage. With cloud storage, this can be avoided. Also, using the right tools and frameworks, like the AWS Well-Architected Framework, you can analyze and reduce associated costs.
No repudiation. This is a concept that can be applied to EMRs. Whether using blockchain or audit trails and metadata, the authenticity of medical records and communication and data transfer can improve significantly as it has become nearly impossible for external people to gain unauthorized access to this data. As cloud advisors, one of the first things we suggest is to enable stricter policies on the underlying systems, like S3 Object lock on AWS.
There are also some technical things we need to work on. Research tells us that some gaps in EMR systems still need to be filled. For example, sometimes, there can be a delay of up to a month when updating patient info in the system, which can cause errors and confusion. Blockchain technology has helped keep everyone's information safe and up to date.
EMR: A Dynamic Healthcare Future
The adoption of cloud computing, the digitalization of healthcare, and the emergence of healthcare cloud-native applications are all outcomes of the digitalization of EMRs. This transformation has enormous implications for the future of healthcare. With the aid of technologies such as machine learning, EMRs can help anticipate healthcare requirements, manage illnesses, and even analyze global healthcare trends.
As healthcare advances and we become more adept at managing health data, we can be optimistic about the future. However, we must strike a balance between innovation and privacy; otherwise, we will not be able to utilize the full potential of these technologies.
