The third leading cause of death in America is errors made during patient care in hospitals. Thankfully, doctors, support staff, and technology professionals are implementing systems to change that statistic. The use of cloud computing and AI is geared to reduce the number of mistakes and drastically improve patient care.

Currently, 83 percent of all healthcare organizations in the U.S. use some cloud-based technology. The majority prefer SaaS-based applications. Collecting patient data electronically makes it instantly accessible for review and analysis allowing for quicker and more accurate diagnosis. Additionally, keeping records in a cloud-based solution provides a single access point for all records. 

Medical cloud computing was designed to make lives easier and eliminate human error. However, this high-growth industry is also improving healthcare quality and changing how physicians, hospitals and support staff deliver their services.

Common Healthcare Mistakes

Errors in the medical industry cost everyone money. Insurance companies, hospitals, and the doctors themselves are affected by medical malpractice. Sometimes mistakes are genuine, and sometimes they are due to negligence. 

When someone visits the doctor’s office due to symptoms or a new ailment and the doctor fails to diagnose them accurately or order tests that would reveal the illness, they could be liable for a malpractice lawsuit. Healthcare facilities that use cloud-based data and AI to help diagnose patients may prevent these types of issues. 

Because risk factors and family medical history often indicate possible medical issues, the use of cloud-based aggregated data might be the solution. Feeding the patient data into an AI cloud-based system with billions of other records may prompt the doctor to determine the cause for the patient’s issue or at least suggest ordering other tests to be sure.

Cloud Computing Helps to Reduce Errors

According to a study performed by Gary and Mary West Health Institute, 60 percent of the nurses surveyed claimed that problems with interoperability were to blame for many of the errors. Even though their hospitals were using cloud-based technology, it was not interconnected, so manual typing and transcribing mistakes resulted in inadequate medical care. 

The obvious solution is cloud-based medical records where each patient’s file is consolidated in one location so that the patient’s entire medical team can share it. SaaS systems like Curaspan can track a patient’s whole experience from the time they walk into the hospital until they leave. This real-time data ensures more accurate results, efficiency of services, and better patient care. 

An integrated approach with cloud-based data also helps support staff manage patient populations and track readmissions. Analyzing why someone was readmitted can help medical teams close the gaps of inefficiency or misdiagnosis to improve the level of care they are offering.

AI is Improving Healthcare

The backbone of AI is big data. Nowhere is there more significant data than in medical care.  With patient records being stored and updated in the cloud, the use of AI for data mining and analysis can help form quicker, better diagnosis and identify anomalies or similarities in the information.

By using AI to analyze large sets of patient data, physicians can catch things they might have missed earlier. Additionally, comparing the data for one patient to that of billions of other patients helps formulate conclusions and better feedback. AI loaded with top-notch physician medical knowledge can assist local doctors by using their expertise when running their patient’s information through a system designed to help diagnose and treat serious medical issues. 

One way AI is helping doctors is through the use of cloud-based AI systems like Amazon Comprehend Medical that continually analyzes patient data to summarize patterns supporting physicians and reducing the number of errors. Google, IBM, and Microsoft are all working on their own cloud-based medical services as well. 

Healthcare + Cloud Computing = An Improved Patient Experience 

Cloud-based computing is also aimed at improving the patient experience through customized communications. Technology helps patients manage their care by having an easy way to ask questions, schedule appointments, make online payments, and provide feedback to doctors for quick evaluation. 

Some of these systems also offer appointment reminders and marketing tools to help get referrals. Mobile apps allow patients to provide feedback and rank their level of satisfaction. All the data collected within these applications drive better service, improved efficiency, and better population management. 

Robot nurses are being used in hospitals in Belgium, Thailand, and Japan to supplement human services. These devices are being used to relax and exercise patients, monitor vitals, dispense medications, train staff, and greet visitors. Robotics designed for the medical industry help reduce waste. They also save money and make the patient experience better. It is estimated that this technology will grow to $2.8 billion by the year 2021. MarketsandMarkets predicted that by last year healthcare providers would have invested $5.4 billion in cloud computing. Cloud-based companies offer vast storehouses for the massive amounts of data that come from the medical industry. Along with the storage space, they are rolling out some slick applications to help drive healthcare services forward. The area of medical technology and cloud computing is an exciting area to watch as it evolves and shapes the new face of patient care for the future.

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About the Author

Avery Phillips is a unicorn of a human being who loves all things relating to people and their entrepreneurial spirits. Comment down below or tweet her @a_taylorian.

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