HIPAA compliance concerns slow cloud adoption by healthcare organizations
Compliance with Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) information security regulations are deterring many healthcare organizations from adopting cloud computing, noted Mike Murphy, vice president of technology operations at healthcare information vendor MD-IT.
Murphy told a recent teleconference sponsored by Verizon that HIPAA compliance drives much of the healthcare IT industry’s decision making on cloud adoption. He noted that hospitals are leading the way in terms of cloud adoption, but they are primarily using cloud services for business and corporate application, not in the patient information application area.
At the same time, smaller clinics and physician practices are reluctant to move to the cloud because of HIPAA compliance concerns. “I don’t think healthcare organizations will move to the cloud until they know that security is there”, he said. Murphy noted that HIPAA compliance is the focus of his company’s concerns about the cloud. MD-IT provides information technology to healthcare clinics and physician practices.
