The latest report from KLAS reveals a significant trend in the healthcare sector: a substantial migration towards cloud-based solutions for image viewing and storage. The Imaging in the Cloud 2024 report, based on interviews with 228 healthcare organisations, sheds light on their imaging needs, cloud implementation strategies, perceptions of vendors' cloud solutions, and more.
Growth and Confidence: Cloud Adoption Trends in Healthcare
Key findings indicate that nearly two-thirds of the surveyed organisations either already use the cloud for image viewing and storage or plan to do so within the next three years. Moreover, 63% of organizations with cloud software intend to increase its usage in the coming years, with another 32% planning to maintain current levels. Notably, three-fourths of larger organizations intend to boost their viewing utilization, indicating a significant growth trend. These figures are a testament to the success of early adopters and should inspire confidence in the trend.
Navigating Cybersecurity and Privacy Challenges
Cloud solutions are predominantly used for long-term storage and disaster recovery, with PACS services also seeing significant utilisation. However, these investments come with concerns, particularly regarding cost, privacy, cybersecurity, and bandwidth requirements. Many organisations find the cloud to be as expensive as on-premises solutions, with ROI derived from standardization, tech adoption flexibility and reduced IT burden.
High costs, privacy risks, and cybersecurity are top concerns for about 39% of organisations, while 32% worry about bandwidth sufficiency. Cloud performance and vendor support for deployment also emerge as critical considerations. The report advises organisations to address these concerns when engaging with vendors, focusing not only on the cloud solutions provided but also the guidance and support offered. It provides detailed insights into vendor-specific cloud offerings and organisations' ratings of service quality.
In essence, the healthcare sector's shift towards cloud-based imaging solutions is driven by the need for efficiency, flexibility, and scalability. However, addressing cost, security, and performance concerns is crucial to ensuring successful cloud adoption in the industry.
Source Credit: KLAS
Image Credit: iStock
