Concerns about cybersecurity are limiting use of cloud by hospitals and health systems

But few health system IT professionals could point to known cybersecurity incident linked to the cloud, a new survey from the Center for Connected Medicine and HIMSS finds

Cyberattacks on hospitals and health systems have been increasing, leading to data breaches of sensitive information. As hackers have been stepping up attacks, more health data is moving to the cloud.

The combination of those trends is a recipe for concern for many in health care.

More than half of respondents to a new survey said their health system’s use of the cloud was “significantly limited” by cybersecurity concerns. Another quarter of respondents answered that those concerns had “somewhat limited” use of the cloud.

The findings come from new survey research, sponsored by the Center for Connected Medicine (CCM) and conducted by HIIMSS Media, which focused on cloud security perceptions at health systems.

“Many vendors who provide critical applications – such as EMRs – are aggressively moving to the cloud,” said John Houston, Vice President of Privacy and Security and Associate Counsel at UPMC. “In many cases there will not be an option.”

As cloud technology advances and proliferates in health care, it’s essential for IT professionals to understand how to manage threats across their systems.

UPMC’s Houston says almost all health care data will be processed in the cloud in the next five years. For that reason, he says health systems must “address that reality rather than simply digging our heels in and saying no.”

Read more on the CCM website and download an executive summary and infographic highlighting key findings.

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