New report calls for a collaborative approach to integrating cloud technology into healthcare
14 June 2023
The report was launched at the HIMSS23 conference in Lisbon. Left to right: Jens Dommel, Head of Healthcare EMEA, Amazon Web Services (AWS); Ana da Motta, Head of Healthcare Public Policy EMEA, AWS; Myriam Fernandez Martin, Head of Health Innovation, EMEA, AWS; Annie Bricker, PR Public Sector, EMEA, AWS; Suzanne Wait, Managing Director, The Health Policy Partnership (HPP); Catherine Whicher, Senior Researcher, HPP
The Health Policy Partnership (HPP) has worked with the European Institute for Innovation through Health Data and leading experts in research, health data and patient advocacy to develop a report on cloud technology in healthcare. The report was launched to coincide with the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) 2023 conference in Lisbon.
The report, Our health in the cloud: exploring the evolving role of cloud technology in healthcare, aims to engage the patient community and healthcare professionals in discussions and policymaking around cloud technology to ensure that its implementation both serves them and takes their perspectives on board.
It positions cloud technology within the context of current health policy priorities including health equity and person-centred care, health system sustainability, and investment in innovation. Highlighting the opportunities of cloud technology to enable better individual and population health, the report also emphasises the importance of a multi-stakeholder approach with the patient community at the heart of all decision-making around its implementation in health systems.
Health systems around the globe are experiencing unprecedented challenges; addressing them requires an approach that is both comprehensive and data driven. This is where the untapped potential of cloud technology can enable transformative solutions.
Cloud technology is essentially IT infrastructure delivered as a scalable service, meaning it can adapt and grow to fit the changing needs of ever more data-intensive and collaborative health systems. Given the breadth of its applications, understanding of cloud technology should not remain within the confines of IT departments; all stakeholders should be engaged in optimising its role for the benefit of individual and population health, keeping the needs of people receiving care front of mind.
Cloud service providers, governments and organisations using cloud must work together in a model of shared responsibility to ensure the interests of patients and the wider public are front and centre of all its applications.
HPP Managing Director Suzanne Wait participated in a panel discussion at HIMSS23 on the importance of involving patients in decision-making around innovative technologies in health settings, building on key messages from the report.
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