I remember the days when cloud was almost a dirty word in healthcare. Most healthcare CIOs probably saw the writing on the wall that cloud was the future, but there was a lot of fear going to the cloud. Now every healthcare organization is not just in the cloud but is multi-cloud. What’s interesting about healthcare’s move to the cloud is that we often forget the benefits of multi-cloud when it comes to things like patient outcomes and clinician experience.
This was the topic of discussion at the HIMSS 2023 annual conference in the session titled “CXO Spotlight: Improve Patient Outcomes and Clinician Experiences with a Consistent Multi-Cloud Strategy.” This session included the following panel of experts:
- Michael Robinson, Vice President, Healthcare Americas at VMware
- Bill Wilson, MBA, FHIMSS, CHCIO, Vice President & Chief Technology Officer at Stanford Children’s Health
- Geoffrey Brown, FCHIME, Chief Information Officer at Piedmont HealthCare
- Jeff Thomas, Vice President, Chief Technology Officer at Sentara Health Care
We had a chance to live tweet the session and here are some of their key takeaways when it comes to the benefits and some challenges associated with multi-cloud in healthcare.
Getting to know this amazing panel & how to improve patient outcomes & clinician experiences with multi-cloud strategy.
Michael Robinson @VMware
Bill Wilson @StanfordChild
Geoffrey Brown @PiedmontHealth
Jeff Thomas @sentarahealth #HIMSS23 #HITsm #healthit pic.twitter.com/sBj9sCUPIx— Healthcare IT Today (@hcittoday) April 18, 2023
Top priorities in 2023 for these CXO’s:
– Scalability. Tech needs to be able to accommodate the masses
– Data sharing. Have to be able to share data with patients & caregivers
– Innovation. How do we experience & interact with information@VMware #HIMSS23 #HITsm pic.twitter.com/4O09eulHeh— Healthcare IT Today (@hcittoday) April 18, 2023
When you look at these top priorities for CXO, it’s easy to see why cloud in healthcare is so popular. It makes all 3 things easier to do: scaling, data sharing, and innovation.
“Covid changed a lot of things in the #healthcare space. I applaud the vendor community for collaborating and getting this country through the last 3 years.” – Geoffrey Brown @PiedmontHealth #HIMSS23 #HITsm @VMware pic.twitter.com/XxnosjbgZ9
— Healthcare IT Today (@hcittoday) April 18, 2023
No doubt COVID shined a light on so many things in healthcare. Some good and some bad. One of the good things coming out of COVID was realizing how the cloud allowed an organization to scale up and down quickly based on the needs of the organization. This was true as new testing sites was rolled out. It applied to the need for staff to work from home. The pandemic really forced an organization to understand how important it was for their IT infrastructure to be flexible and nimble.
“We keep a close eye on our costs for multi cloud strategy. We keep our data forever, so we try look at our capital & operating costs. We are constantly evaluating what makes sense for cloud from cost perspective.” – Bill Wilson, @StanfordChild #HIMSS23 #HITsm @VMware pic.twitter.com/HVgmxJ40KU
— Healthcare IT Today (@hcittoday) April 18, 2023
No doubt costs are a concern for every healthcare organization. Bill Wilson’s advice to keep a close eye on the costs associated with your cloud strategy are important. This is particularly true when I think we all see that the future is going to require more data storage and more processing power. Understanding these costs as these needs change is going to be key. Plus, looking at how the cloud impacts capital and operating costs is an important decision for leaders.
“When I think of multi-cloud I look at it as the opportunity to erase the sins of the past and archetype the path forward where I get rid of those sins”
– Jeff Thomas @sentarahealth #HIMSS23 #HITsm #healthit pic.twitter.com/OGzlHnwo8u
— Healthcare IT Today (@hcittoday) April 18, 2023
This is an incredible view of multi-cloud. Far too often we look at our legacy applications as something that ties us down and prevents us from taking advantage of the latest technology. I love Jeff Thomas’ perspective that the move to the cloud is an opportunity to leave behind our past sins and chart a new path forward.
How has #healthit evolved?
“Configuring an environment used to take 30,60,90 days. We can now stand up an environment in day or a week, which gets folks on the ground up and running immediately, that’s huge!”
Jeff Thomas @sentarahealth #HIMSS23 #HITsm #healthit pic.twitter.com/deeMM6nAlc
— Healthcare IT Today (@hcittoday) April 18, 2023
Ask any sys admin what it was like to provision servers and desktops in the past. The efficiency of the cloud when it comes to provisioning is mind bending. It completely changes the paradigm when it comes to rolling out new environments. So much so that good governance is going to be even more important. We don’t want to roll out orphan environments just because we can.
What keeps you up at night?
“Government says you have to share data with everyone and government also says you can’t share data with anyone.” 🥴
Bill Wilson – @StanfordChild #HIMSS23 #HITsm #healthit @VMware pic.twitter.com/EWdGGks7QB
— Healthcare IT Today (@hcittoday) April 18, 2023
I always love the question of what keeps you up at night. Bill Wilson provides an incredible paradox. There are no easy answers to it either. Maybe the one guiding light is doing what’s best for the patient. Although, even that can be complicated.
CXO top challenge:
Integrations with other healthcares orgs.
These CXO’s can move quickly. Waiting to connect & integrate data is a big challenge. Nimbleness is key. They need systems built that cleanly, quickly & securely connect data between orgs.
#HIMSS23 #HITsm @VMware pic.twitter.com/g3g86xaejX
— Healthcare IT Today (@hcittoday) April 18, 2023
Nimbleness is key. However, it’s true that we’re also often dependent on other healthcare organizations who may not be as nimble. That’s a real challenge for CXOs in healthcare.
How do you get your teams to embrace the change to multi-cloud?
Education! Most times it’s just fear of the unknown. These CXO’s bring all of their teams together within IT to teach the benefits & outcomes. #HIMSS23 #HITsm #healthit @VMware pic.twitter.com/vqoueHAEx0
— Healthcare IT Today (@hcittoday) April 18, 2023
Education really is the key to so many things in healthcare IT. That’s definitely true when it comes to multi-cloud. There’s a lot of misconceptions around it. Plus, it’s come a long way as it has matured over the years.
Thanks to this panel led by Michael Robinson from VMware for the great insights on healthcare multi-cloud. What else would you add to the conversation? What has been your experience with the healthcare cloud? What are you watching for in the future. We’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments and on social media using the hashtag #HITsm.
VMware is a proud sponsor of Healthcare Scene.
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