Welcome to this lecture on Cloud Computing in Healthcare Part 1. We will start off by defining what we mean by the Cloud and then discuss where we see it in our daily lives. We will talk about the various types of Cloud, public, private, hybrid, its benefits and application in healthcare. We will then do a quick quiz and then a recap of what we discussed in this lecture. The word cloud computing is now part of our common vocabulary. In simplest terms, the Cloud is a vast network of interconnected servers that operate as a single system. This interconnected web of computers can deliver many of the applications that we take for granted. The Cloud is not new. In 1963, Darpa asked MIT to develop technology which would allow for the computer to be used by two or more people simultaneously. At that point, it was a giant computer that used reels of magnetic tape for memory. But we've come a long way since then. But that was the initial start of cloud computing. The main reason why cloud services is gaining popularity is that companies can rent access to storage, to computing power and applications from a Cloud service provider. The Cloud service provider in turn takes care of the infrastructure as well as the systems maintenance. For organizations, this reduces the half costs of investing in computers as well as people required to manage and maintain the system. Another big advantage of the Cloud is that it's elastic in nature, which means that it is easy to add and reduce storage computing power. As the organization's needs change. We don't realize it, but we are using Cloud services every day for our needs. We are storing data through Google Drive when we send large documents over the web, we use iCloud on our phones for backup. Same way logging into our email via through Google or Yahoo or Hotmail. We are using the Cloud. Streaming videos, for example, most of us now have a Netflix. a Hulu or an Amazon Prime Video account. In fact, a lot of people don't even subscribe for cable anymore. Music from Spotify and Pandora. Finally, many of the applications that we are running on the cloud, such as Office 365, Zoom for virtual meetings. There are three types of Clouds in the use. Public, private and hybrid. Public Clouds are the most common, such as Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, etc. Here all the infrastructure and the applications are owned and managed by the provider. The hardware and software they shared across multiple organizations and is made available for access over the Internet. The biggest advantage of this is that all the maintenance and management is taken care of by the Cloud provider. Private Clouds, on the other hand, can be accessed by one company only. The companies IT department usually manages the infrastructure for the Cloud, though they may be managed by third parties as well. The advantage for large organizations of using this model is that the data is secure and they are able to provide all the benefits of Cloud computing services internally to their various departments. That tends to be a very expensive solution. Hybrid Cloud offer the best of both worlds. Highly sensitive information is accessible over the private Cloud, while other services use the public Cloud. This allows for greater control and security for sensitive data, but it still allows organizations to benefit from the public cloud where appropriate. Almost 87 percent of healthcare organizations prefer to make use of a hybrid cloud model. Systems containing sensitive patient data such as imaging, electronic health records are usually hosted on the private Clouds. Let's see why health care companies are embracing Cloud services. The most obvious benefits are lower costs because we no longer need to invest in the IT support personnel as well as the infrastructure. It also provides flexibility as setting up the machine is taken care of by the Cloud provider. We can now run new applications far quicker than we could before. Because of this, a couple of things are happening. For one, we are moving away from paper records to electronic data. Second, we now see the convenience of being able to connect with her doctor on the phone or the computer and this requires access to real-time information anytime, anywhere and interoperability amongst different systems, both internally as well as externally. Ultimately, this powers the new healthcare ecosystem that consists of patient portals, telehealth services, healthcare information exchanges, smart devices, remote monitoring services, etc. Let's take a look at some of the examples of these applications. Telemedicine and telehealth provide Virtual Care platform so that patients and doctors do not have to be physically present at the same location. Patient portals allow consumers access to their health record and communicate securely with their healthcare providers. Advanced analytics is becoming an integral part of diagnostics and medical decisions support. This usually requires computing power and storage equivalent to that of a supercomputer, but available easily through the Cloud. Medical imaging databases called back store all our x-rays, CAT scans, MRI scans that are taken care of and can be analyzed. Some other examples here, clinical decision support systems that help doctors when they are taking care of patients with decision-making. For example, what is the right dose of a medication? What maybe the side effects? All of this can be made available through a clinical decision support system. Health care exchanges are popping up in different states that allow patients to choose their own health care insurance. Internet of things allows information to be collected and combined from remote medical devices and smartphones, allowing for continuous remote monitoring of patients. Precision health, an approach that combines Big Data genomics and population health tailor treatment to different groups and obviously this requires interoperability amongst large databases and the computing power of the Cloud. Ultimately, this new paradigm of healthcare is feasible only due to the availability of Cloud infrastructure. Now, let's take a look at some of the quiz questions that we have here. The first one is, which of the following is the most secure? a) Public Cloud, b) Hybrid Cloud, 3) Private Cloud. The answer is, you got it, private Clouds. The next question is, the Cloud can be used for which of the following purposes? a) Streaming movies, b) Reading email, c) Using Facebook, Instagram and other social media, d) All of the above. The answer is D, you're right, it's all of the above that we see here. The final question is, IoT allows medical devices to send patient data remotely. Is this true or is it false? The answer is true. That's right. Great job. Now just a quick recap of what we have learned today. The Cloud is a vast network of remote servers around the globe, which are connected and operate as a single system that provides storage of data, computing power and various applications. It also provides access to various maintenance services such as replication, backup and disaster recovery. Clouds can be public, private or hybrid. Public Clouds are the most common, such as Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, etc. Private clouds are rarer, but provide greater control and security. The most popular amongst healthcare companies are hybrid Clouds that have certain parts that are private and the rest are public. Applications such as telemedicine, remote health monitoring, precision medicine, are really made available today by the Cloud hosted systems. Cloud helps improve interoperability, reduce costs and increase the pace of innovation.
