Rise of Healthcare Data Storage Industry
With advanced medical technology, more and more healthcare providers are transitioning patient records from paper to digital formats. Electronic health records (EHR) are now standard practice at hospitals and clinics worldwide. This digitization of records allows for instant access to a patient’s medical history from any location. Doctors can easily view test results, medications, allergies and more right from their computer or mobile device. Patients also have access to their health information through online portals.
The transition to EHRs has vastly improved the quality of care by making patient data available anywhere it’s needed. However, it has also created an explosion in the amount of digital Healthcare Data Storage being generated and stored. Just a single hospital can generate terabytes of new data every year from medical imaging scans, genomic sequencing, digital records and more. When considering billions of patients globally, the total healthcare data footprint has grown exponentially.
Storing Exabytes of Patient Information
To put the scale of healthcare data storage into perspective, the entire digital world was estimated to contain around 1 zettabyte of data in 2020. Of that, about 15 exabytes was healthcare data according to analysts. That amounts to 15 million terabytes or 15,000 petabytes of sensitive personal patient information. As healthcare systems continue adding new types of digital data, that footprint will keep growing considerably year after year.
Need for Secure, Compliant Infrastructure
With such massive amounts of data, security and compliance become major challenges for healthcare providers. Storing patient records in inefficient, outdated systems leaves them vulnerable to unauthorized access or data breaches. Sensitive medical details and insurance information getting exposed could severely damage patients’ privacy and trust in healthcare institutions. Countries also have strict data protection laws requiring stringent security controls and oversight of personal data storage.
Moving to Healthcare Data Storage Industry
To properly manage exabytes of healthcare information while meeting all regulatory requirements, many organizations are adopting cloud-based storage solutions. The cloud offers higher levels of security, regular updates, redundancy across geographically dispersed data centers and scalability to endless storage capacities. It eliminates the need for expensive on-premise systems and costly expansions each time data grows. Cloud providers like AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud can ensure healthcare data remains encrypted, access is monitored and backups are frequent.
Challenges of Cloud Healthcare Storage
However, moving sensitive patient records to the cloud also poses some unique compliance challenges. Healthcare laws in certain regions may prohibit storing data outside national borders. Doctors also need fast access to critical information during emergencies, requiring low latency connectivity. Network disruptions could cut them off from saved patient lives. Data sovereignty and local failover/disaster recovery therefore remain important considerations when designing cloud healthcare infrastructure.
Additionally, migrating exabytes of existing on-premise data to the cloud is a massive undertaking that requires thorough planning. Healthcare IT teams need to implement hybrid storage architectures, data classification schemes and intelligent data placement strategies. Ongoing data management across platforms also adds networking and support complexities that increase costs if not addressed properly.
Future of Healthcare Data Infrastructure
As healthcare continues digitizing, artificial intelligence and machine learning will also start generating new types of predictive datasets from patient records. Storage needs will climb even higher to support data analytics driving next-generation treatments. Edge computing deployments may decentralize some infrastructure to process real-time patient data locally.
Responsibilities on healthcare providers are immense to safeguard people’s medical histories and ensure critical services remain accessible. Adopting modern secure multi-cloud solutions can help meet exponentially growing storage demands while satisfying stringent compliance rules. With careful long-term planning and the right strategic partners, the future of global healthcare data can be both collaborative and private.
*Note:
1. Source: Coherent Market Insights, Public sources, Desk research
2. We have leveraged AI tools to mine information and compile it
Author Bio:
Money Singh is a seasoned content writer with over four years of experience in the market research sector. Her expertise spans various industries, including food and beverages, biotechnology, chemical and materials, defense and aerospace, consumer goods, etc. (https://www.linkedin.com/in/money-singh-590844163)
