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In my opinion, I think that cloud based systems are a wonderful asset to the healthcare community. These systems help decrease time and money spent to make the consumer happy. This system allows the patient to "control their destiny" as was stated in the article. We live in a society that has to have immediate satisfaction and these cloud based systems provide lab results, scans, and the ability to easily communicate with your physician. Ultimately, increasing patient satisfaction will help with increasing patient compliance. It is our job as healthcare professionals to make sure that our patients have all the "tools" in their toolbox to help them improve their health. The cloud based systems will continue to improve in the future and make our jobs as healthcare providers easier.

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1. medical staff not taking the time to properly utilize the resources at hand

2. the wrong person gaining access to patient information through the cloud, confidentiality breaches

3. patients unable to access their personal health records due to limited funds

4. organizations not wanting to adopt this particular method; not being able to get everyone on board with the same product

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Some pros to these cloud based systems include:

1. faster exchange of information

2. improves communication between health care providers

3. allows patients to be active participants in their treatment

4. easy access for the patient to schedule appointments, pay bills, and see their resulted tests/lab work

5. decreases the time it takes to do a full patient work up each time they enter the hospital

6. allows medical staff to quickly and efficiently document the patient's concerns

7. mobile devices can quickly sync information into the cloud system (vital signs, glucometer checks, etc.)

8. access to the entire patient story, not just bits and pieces of information

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Cloud based systems have the ability to incorporate electronic health records (EHRs), personal health records (PHRs), computerized physician order entry (CPOE), home monitoring systems, and other pertinent data that the physician chooses to include in the health records. There are four types of cloud based systems:

1. Public Cloud- information that can be accessed by anyone in the general public

2. Community Clouds- these clouds can be accessed by different offices/businesses with one common purpose

3. Hybrid Clouds- different clouds can be used together

4. Private Cloud- permission settings established to maintain the confidentiality of the records on hand

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This article was published in the September/October issue of "The Journal of Medical Practice Management."

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Alice Noblin, PHD

-Assistant Professor in Health Informatics and Information Management & Undergraduate Program Director at the University of Florida

Kendall Cortelyou-Ward, PHD

- Associate Professor and the Director of the Graduate Program in Health Care Informatics at the University of Central Florida

Rosa M. Servan

- Student in the Health Care Informatics graduate program at the University of Central Florida