Azure is Microsoft’s brand of platform- and infrastructure-as-a-service (PaaS and IaaS). Azure’s PaaS allows healthcare providers to adopt Microsoft’s artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies as they build, test, deploy, manage, and update their own proprietary applications. These apps can range from monitoring and diagnostics tools (such as Intelligent Retinal Imaging Systems’ diabetic retinopathy testing solution) or tools that make clinics operate more effectively and efficiently (such as KenSci’s Risk Prediction platform).

Azure’s IaaS, on the other hand, is all about letting organizations rent out servers and other data center infrastructure instead of buying and managing their own expensive and complex in-house machinery.

Both of these cloud services make Azure the perfect partner for healthcare providers. Here are five reasons why:

Transitioning to Azure is easy

Since Microsoft programs are normally the primary software that many clinic administration and electronic health record systems are based on, shifting these systems to Azure is relatively straightforward. Healthcare providers can expect minimal difficulty in adapting Azure as well as negligible interruption to critical services.

Collaboration across caregivers is enhanced by accessibility

Azure is a platform where specialists and primary care providers can meet to obtain esoteric services. For instance, eye clinics that lack the resources to do diabetic retinopathy tests (i.e., tests that check if someone with diabetes is at risk of becoming blind because of his or her condition) turn to medical technology company Intelligent Retinal Imaging Systems (IRIS).

A trained staff member uses IRIS’s system to take digital images of the retina, uploads it to the cloud (where IRIS’s pathology identification application analyzes the images intelligently — i.e., the way a trained human professional would), and receives the results in a short amount of time, as if the test was actually done in the clinic itself.

Data storage capacity allows for the massive collection of data

Advanced diagnostics and monitoring equipment produce large quantities of data that in-house IT infrastructures can’t adequately store, much less properly process for making accurate diagnoses or providing real-time updates.

By entrusting data storage to Azure, not only will healthcare providers have more than enough space to keep patient data, but they will also be able to leverage Microsoft’s intelligent solution for healthcare providers, Azure for health.

Azure for health: Using cloud-based intelligence to provide predictive care

Healthcare is generally a reactive practice. To illustrate, if a machine that is monitoring vital signs detects a cardiac arrest, it audibly alarms caregivers so they can quickly address the issue.

This reactive practice is being replaced by proactive measures enabled by Azure for health. It can take real-time data and leverage machine learning to predict problems and alert caregivers before they occur. Issues can be addressed hours in advance to prevent physically damaging or life-threatening incidents from happening in the first place.

Complying with HIPAA/HITRUST regulations is so much easier, thanks to Azure

Healthcare providers must keep protected health information (PHI) accessible to caregivers and patients while at the same time guard it against unauthorized disclosure. PHI is critical to saving lives and increasing people’s quality of life, which is why it is governed by strict regulations.

However, following these laws is very difficult because regulations are continually updated, staff need to be trained regularly, and third-party vendors also need to be compliant as well.

Or rather, at least that was the case until Azure came along. You have a strong and reliable compliance partner in Azure because:

• Azure offers an end-to-end foundation for keeping PHI safe
• It has everything your organization needs — including artificial intelligence and automation tools — to help you build a HIPAA- and HITRUST-ready environment
• Cybersecurity experts constantly watch over the platform and always keep its software and regulatory compliance measures up to date
• Third-party auditors review Azure every day
• Azure grants cloud administrators high degrees of control over activities related to data such as access, alteration, dissemination, and deletion

Learn how Microsoft Azure cloud services improves healthcare. Contact SimplyClouds— let us show you how Azure can help you in providing the best health outcomes for your patients.