January 21 2015: Cloud computing, mobility and the Internet of Things have the potential to transform the healthcare industry through telemedicine, remote patient monitoring and secure information exchange. The benefits of healthcare services utilizing the cloud are plentiful, as long as the healthcare provider partners with the right cloud provider.
In a HealthITSecurity.com article, author Morris Panner, CEO of Phoenix Arizona-based  Medical Image exchange specialist DICOM Grid reports that almost all healthcare organizations are currently using some sort of cloud services, and plan to expand their use with available cloud tools.
There are five specific areas in which cloud computing offers medical practitioners timesaving and cost effective options for diagnosing and treating patients:
•Facilitate remote consultation for telestroke victims
•Storage of historical records for diagnostic tests such as mammograms
•Assist in sports medicine for anywhere-access to patient records
•Storing personal health records for easy patient-access
•Provide access to second opinion consultations via telemedicine

Whether the need is instant image acquisition or immediate data transfer, the world of telemedicine continues to evolve. Choosing a cloud service provider for the healthcare industry needs to be done thoughtfully and carefully. A healthcare cloud service provider needs to provide reliability, availability and scalability. It is also important that the cloud service provider is able to reduce data risks with a secure platform for the storage and transmission of electronic patient health information as well as provide a business associate agreement (BAA) required by HIPAA. The key is finding a cloud service provider that knows the landscape and can deliver a solution tailored to your evolving needs and IT requirements.

According to Healthcare Research Analyst Shruthi Parakkal, the optimization of healthcare information exchanges are underlining the importance of data-management and personalized healthcare delivery.
So how can healthcare providers know what to look for when choosing a cloud service provider? Finding a cloud provider that offers reliable and secure service is a good place to start. Cloud service providers that work with industry experts to help create a reliable, integrated IT solution will be able to provide peace of mind not only to the health care providers but also for patients.
This summary of   Morris Panner's original article  is provided by Verizon/ TheDNA of Cloud