Gaining the Most with the Least Risk: Secure SaaS Solutions Drive Healthcare Innovation and Performance
Anurag Lal, President and CEO of Infinite Convergence.
Software as a Service (SaaS), the largest segment of the cloud computing market, is transforming enterprises across industries. In the healthcare sector, pressure to reduce costs, improve patient outcomes and enhance efficiency and productivity are driving rapid adoption of SaaS applications.
According to Grand View Research, the global healthcare software as a service market size is expected to reach $51.7 billion by 2028.
Healthcare providers are using SaaS applications to digitize Electronic Health Record (EHR) systems, clinical information systems and remote patient monitoring systems. The technology is also being used to facilitate telemedicine, enhance patient engagement and power internal collaboration.
SaaS deployments generate value including reducing costs, lowering maintenance and increasing accessibility and reliability. The technology does not require heavy initial investments or set up costs, provides the flexibility to scale services up or down and simplifies management, reducing burden on IT staff. These and other benefits are driving the growing traction of SaaS in the healthcare sector.
One of the ways healthcare organizations are fully embracing the potential of SaaS is in powering collaboration. As SaaS becomes more central to healthcare innovation and operations, HIPPA compliant collaboration platforms are becoming an essential part of the Healthcare IT stack. That’s because of their ability to streamline processes, optimize workflows, support clinical communication and continuity of patient care and deliver better patient experiences
SaaS collaboration platforms allow distributed care teams to communicate and share critical patient information in real time which translates to the efficient and effective delivery of high-quality patient care. As efficiency and productivity go up, so too does clinician and patient experience.
While SaaS solutions are digitizing and transforming healthcare, these applications are also introducing new security complexities. Some of these cloud-based solutions come with vulnerabilities and cybersecurity gaps that can put security, privacy and compliance at risk.
As the industry with the highest risk for cyberattacks, it’s no surprise that healthcare enterprises put security, privacy and regulatory compliance at the top of the must-have list when it comes to adopting new technologies like cloud-based SaaS. Maintaining the security and confidentiality of patient records and staff information is mission critical in an era of increasing cyberattacks and headline-making data breaches.
A 2021 survey by the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) found that two out of three respondents experienced significant security incidents within the last 12 months. According to the survey, financial data followed by employee information and patient information were the top three targets of threat actors. The survey also found that 32% of respondents experiencing a security incident reported disruption of systems/devices impacting business operations and 21% reported disruptions of services affecting clinical care.
As SaaS continues to gain traction in the healthcare sector, HIPPA complaint SaaS solutions are critical to reducing cyber, financial and operational risk. To ensure SaaS platforms are compliant and secure, healthcare enterprises need to select SaaS platforms with a proven track record for locking down data and guaranteeing compliance.
SaaS platforms are driving innovation and transformation in the healthcare industry. These applications are helping healthcare providers and systems make gains in productivity and efficiency while delivering higher quality patient care.
The healthcare enterprises that adopt cyber secure, compliant SaaS solutions gain the most from these solutions with the least risk. That’s a surefire way to outperform the competition and improve business performance.
