INTRODUCTION
Organizational Overview
In 2004, the BLS ranked healthcare as the largest industry in the U.S. -- providing 13.5 million jobs, including 13.1 million jobs for wage and salary workers and about 411,000 jobs for the self-employed. In addition to being the largest industry, healthcare remains among the fastest-growing. According to BLS projections, 8 of the top 20 fastest-growing occupations are in healthcare, and the industry is also expected to lead in new wage and salary job creation -- generating some 3.6 million between 2004 and 2014. Retrieved from: http://www.imdiversity.com/villages/channels/healthcare/articles/overview.asp
Demographic, social, and cultural changes are putting more pressure than ever before on healthcare providers to be accessible, affordable, and responsive. As a result, healthcare organizations rely on technology more than ever to help achieve their business and clinical objectives.
Key healthcare organization objectives include:
• Better quality of care
• Improved patient outcomes
• Increased productivity and workflow efficiency
• Better information at the point of care
• Improved and integrated communications
• Privacy and protection of patient information
The healthcare environment is one that calls for integration. Today, most hospital networks run, on average, more than 300 applications. Patient information is scattered across disparate systems in public and private healthcare entities, which makes it difficult and costly for healthcare professionals to share vital medical, clinical, and patient information.
Generally, many industries have been quick to implement cloud-based solutions; the healthcare industry has been hesitant to fully adopt cloud-computing solutions. While a portion of this hesitancy stems from legitimate privacy concerns and the need to protect patients’ private health information in accordance