How is Amazon Web Services(AWS) invading the Healthcare Market?
The continuing digitalization of conventional business sectors is a critical component of how the connected society evolves and improves our quality of life. In recent years, there has been a growing awareness of the need to adapt to the brave new digital world. Businesses and decision-makers want to match their business optimization goals with both existing technology and the appropriate tools for the job. While evolution sees AWS cloud platforms and services as a matter of when rather than if businesses integrate them into their operational workflows, it also benefits from increased scalability, shorter time to market, and, most importantly, improved customer service for people working in the healthcare and life sciences (HCLS) sector. This integration has the potential to mean the difference between life and death.
Gartner recently produced a research note titled “Innovation Insight for Digital Health Platform,” which stated that healthcare organizations (and, by extension, life sciences) were becoming increasingly concerned about the value given by their current IT investments. According to the research, these organizations made “heroic attempts” to adopt new technology to enable virtual care and real-time patient monitoring, but the full-fledged digital transformation that many required was essentially still a work-in-progress.
Monolithic electronic health record (EHR) systems and changing customer/patient expectations regarding access to wellness or care cite as major barriers to overcome. The reality is that a single fundamental shift to what the analyst referred to as a “digital health platform” could make a significant difference. Indeed, by 2026, it is expected that 75 percent of healthcare providers would have reduced their reliance on “EHR-native applications to deliver better experiences and results, and enhance efficiencies.”
The most crucial thing to remember is tools and solutions needed to enable healthcare practitioners and life sciences access to a digital health platform (DHP) are currently available.
The DHP “leverages current cloud platforms and applications designed on service-oriented ideas and architectures,” according to the authors of the Gartner research. It is precisely what the AWS cloud for healthcare can provide.
Any firm that wants to make data-driven clinical and operational decisions, allow precision medicine, collaborate in real-time with other clinicians or specialists, and reduce healthcare costs should seriously consider the capabilities of AWS’ dedicated healthcare services provider.
Considering all of this, let’s go deeper into what you need to know about AWS’s health-focused cloud ecosystem and how the platform can accelerate innovation, unleash the value of healthcare data, and build more tailored methods to therapeutic research and care.
Addressing Cloud Issues
Among the most persuasive arguments for relocating to AWS Cloud for healthcare is that the platform provides many purpose-built healthcare and life sciences offerings or solutions, many of which come under its AWS for Health offerings.
As previously said, there is a clear need for businesses to review how they now operate and how they might make the necessary adjustments to their products or services. For those reasons alone, decision-makers must consider several variables when businesses embark on digital transformation and cloud migration.
Some of these variables are security and governance, cost and time, workloads, solution availability, and cloud maturity.
Some components demand more care than others, but AWS’s 15+ years of experience in cloud solutions should strongly indicate any possible difficulties have been solved.
Governance and Security
Let’s get this out of the way right away. Amazon Web Services (AWS) seems to be an example of an open cloud. And it has long been a source of concern for businesses and end customers.
When you enter the terms “top cloud concerns” into a search engine, security will appear near the top of the results. The basic truth is that migrating from on-premises infrastructure to the cloud will spark debate among stakeholders, particularly in industries where regulatory oversight and compliance are critical.
When you invest in a cloud approach, you relinquish some control over your infrastructure. Cloud computing is the on-demand delivery of computing power, database, storage, apps, and other IT services over an AWS cloud services platform.
That means security policies and practices must be rock-solid on both ends of the equation, with AWS assuming cloud security (the protection of the infrastructure that runs all of the offered services) and the customer providing cloud security (platform, applications, identity, and access management) – this is known as the Shared Responsibility Model. A more in-depth synopsis can be found here.
When firms need to alter their security policies and practices to conform to changes in healthcare and life sciences data or regulatory requirements, this becomes vital. If you don’t consider the nature of the public cloud, your cloud adventure may be over before it even begins.
Multiple consumption patterns exist in a public cloud architecture on a very basic level. As a result, governance rules must be developed to oversee how cloud resources are acquired and used.
The stringent laws governing healthcare and life sciences industries make this a difficult task. Companies must consider all compliance layers and regional needs, from providers and payers to the requirements of health-focused technology itself.
Time and Money
There is no doubt that cost will be an essential component in overall decision-making. Still, it should not be the sole or most important aspect in determining the strategy and approach to cloud platform selection.
The caveat is that there is no such thing as an apples-to-apples comparison when it comes to the expense of migrating to a cloud-based solution and the time it will take to be up and operating. Some businesses can be up and running fast, while others will take longer.
What is important is that decision-makers develop a strategy for usage patterns (or expected usage patterns). And select which technique best matches the company’s business model, allocate money, schedule, etc.
Again, AWS has an ever-expanding suite of services designed to unlock the potential of health and science data in the cloud – for example, solutions like Amazon HealthLake, Amazon Comprehend Medical, and Amazon Transcribe Medical are all being used to help companies innovate faster and provide the digital wellness that the connected society requires – you can learn more about Amazon HealthLake in this recent blog post.
AWS Consulting Services Partners like Suffescom can give you a financial breakdown or a TCO study. It will aid in determining the difference between a product’s or system’s short-term (buy price) and long-term (total cost of ownership) prices.
Furthermore, this study will not only set out the full migration scenario in an easy-to-understand format but will also emphasise why a firm should focus on its goods rather than constructing an entire infrastructure and applications.
Workloads
One frequently posed topic is whether it is necessary for all workloads to be cloud-based.
The straightforward answer is no. With its edge services (AWS Edge) and AWS Outposts – the latter are native AWS Development services, infrastructure, and operating models. That can be incorporated into any data centre, co-location space, or on-premises facility – AWS has factored in need for organisations to be both global and localised.
Healthcare and life sciences organisations understand how vital it is to meet data management needs and provide low latency workloads on a local level, and these services do just that.
As previously stated, regulations governing data location and storage and end-user demands for low latency and availability might frequently necessitate the retention of some data and workloads on-premises. Like many other enterprises, there is a push to modernise and migrate appropriate workloads to the cloud.
AWS’ edge computing services provide infrastructure and software that enable data processing. And analysis to occur near the source of data origination and consumption. It involves putting AWS-managed hardware and software in locations outside AWS data centres and on customer-owned devices.
The concept is that AWS for the Edge enables developers to securely connect. And manage a wide range of device kinds and sizes at scale using a common programming model. Lowering costs and assisting developers in solving difficulties associated with managing connected devices.
AWS Outposts helps satisfy on-premises demands by bringing AWS infrastructure. And services agility and speed that many enterprises now utilise in their cloud deployments to the on-premises environment. The service functions similarly to an AWS Region. A physical location somewhere in the world that contains several physical (and AWS-run) data centres. It provides an option for organisations that want to migrate to the cloud for modernization. But also need HIPAA compliance and GxP manufacturing best practices.
Availability of Solutions
There will come the point when you must choose between an off-the-shelf solution. And one that tailors to your demands and objectives.
A company must first determine which sector of the healthcare and life sciences industry it belongs to. For instance, are you a healthcare provider or a payer? Do you concentrate on HealthTech, or is Biopharma more your thing? Is it the study of the human genome that motivates you to get out of bed in the morning?
These industries are critical components of the healthcare ecosystem. And AWS has a plethora of readymade solutions that will meet the needs.
Furthermore, AWS Consulting Services Partners (such as Suffescom) specialises in answering specific concerns and offering access to purpose-built solutions. Looking for those who have proved technical knowledge and implemented client solutions on AWS. It is one approach to guarantee you choose the proper partner. A good indicator is if that service provider has obtained AWS Life Sciences Competency level.
The AWS Marketplace is another useful resource. It is a one-stop shop with a curated digital catalogue of third-party software, services. And data that makes it simple to identify, deploy, and manage health solutions on AWS. The marketplace does what it says on the box; it is a segment-specific solution that gives companies guidance and access to their required tools.
Maturity of Cloud
HCLS (Healthcare Life Sciences) objectives have altered in recent years. And industry observers shortly foresee a renewed increase in cloud use among organisations.
Recent industry analysis predicts that the global healthcare sector will be worth $11.9 trillion by 2022. With growing investment, businesses will seek to digitise their business strategies. To capitalise on evident market opportunities and provide a streamlined customer experience and overall value proposition.
We must also remember that Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) are now the foundation of the digital health market. It has increased the importance of doing cloud right the first time.
While numerous options are available. The prudent decision-maker will likely seek to replicate the cloud experiences of competitors. For example, the UK’s National Health Service, Methodist Healthcare, Philips Healthcare, and Cerner Corporation. It have used AWS to streamline their operations and commitment to patient wellness.
AWS has established a healthcare ecosystem. That has made it both a worldwide leader and a cloud provider with all of the maturity and experience required. The company launched the Life Science Practice in 2014. The committed teams that make up this division work. With health organisations daily to build and deliver solutions that improve patient outcomes.
An AWS health team leader has an average of 18 years of experience. Which highlights (yet again) the level of healthcare-related cloud maturity. At the time of writing, AWS provides more than 130 HIPAA-compliant services and certifications. Has produced over 200 case studies and has 25 Life Sciences and 39 Healthcare Competency Partners.
Done Right by the Cloud
All of this proved AWS knowledge and expertise becomes a tremendous advantage for the healthcare and life sciences business. Especially when it comes to a required digital transformation and the sector’s culture of innovation.
What’s more, the digitalization of healthcare has been going on for years. AWS solutions include clinical solutions, analytics, artificial intelligence and machine learning, patient experience, medical research and finance, and operations. The transition to the cloud is essentially the next step in evolving a healthcare ecosystem. That can profit from the convergence of the physical and digital worlds.
And while patient well-being and illness treatment are the foundations upon which healthcare and life sciences are found. Businesses need to take advantage of the digital choices that are accessible. It involves utilizing the data generated and incorporating tools that improve the overall quality of patient care.
The cloud’s potential is boundless, but what matters most is that you choose the appropriate supplier and partner at the right time. When you choose that option, you will be able to focus on making the world a safer place.
