Cloud Computing and Healthcare Sector

As in healthcare sector data privacy and security are of high importance.

Right information at right time saves lives. But with the new opportunities come few risk too like Data security risks, the risk of loss of data and risk of system unavailability. We see that the information system of hospitals in India not very well managed, they have somewhat rare information. Cloud helps its client with the latest technologies but at a very low price. Client has to pay only for what he uses with minimum resource.The cloud is not about technology, it is the abstraction of technology for delivering pure services.

This work proposes a solution based on cloud computing implemented for hospital systems having as a result a better management, high speed for the medical process, and increased quality of the medical services. In this paper we have analyzed the implementation of cloud computing in Indian healthcare sector. Cloud computing technology is still new but promises a revolution in the entire connected areas. Key Terms: - Cloud computing; e-Health; cloud and health care.

INTRODUCTION Cloud computing is internet-based computing, where shared servers provide computing power, storage, development platforms or software to computers and other devices on demand. This frequently takes the form of cloud services, such as ‘Infrastructure as a Service’ (IaaS), ‘Platform as a Service (PaaS)’ or ‘Software as a Service’ (SaaS). Users can access web-based tools or applications through a web browser or via a cloud-based resource like storage or computer power as if they were installed locally, eliminating the need to install and run the application on the customer’s own computers and simplifying maintenance and support.There are several possible deployment models for clouds, the most important being public, private and hybrid. [1] Cloud computing is the fastest growing field that provides many different services, which are provided on demand of the client over the web. Cloud computing is based on the model of pay-as-you-go.

This gives the user cost reduction, fast and easy way to deploy the applications. Cloud computing usage in the Information Support Systems will facilitate businesses to run smoothly and efficiently. A number of virtual machines and applications can be managed very easily using a cloud.With the use of cloud in businesses will © 2013, IJCSMC All Rights Reserved 238 Atiya Parveen et al, International Journal of Computer Science and Mobile Computing Vol. 2 Issue. 5, May- 2013, pg.

238-243 not only save the cost of staff required to maintain servers, but will also require lesser servers and with that less power consumption. [2] The most important sector which requires a lot of information, data and computing power is healthcare system. Doctors require medical history of the patients in critical times and within no time.But we see that different departments of a healthcare system has have different information of the patients medical history, with require time to get assembled.

Doctors have to start the treatment without the complete information of patient’s medical history, which sometimes, is life threatening for the patient. Technologies could be used in healthcare sector to provide better healthcare facilities and reduce the operations costs. In our country we see that there is scarcity of doctors, nurses and pharmacy.But still there is rapid growth in healthcare services, while diseases are becoming more complex. More and more new and efficient diagnostic techniques and new way of treatments are being developed and used in healthcare sector so as to provide the patients with best possible treatment and in their budget. Many healthcare organizations are providing different kind of services to cater to highly diversified economic population which in turn has resulted in competition in the market.

So the organizations which do not perform well are out of business. 3][4] As healthcare providers need cost effective automating processes which gives more profits, cloud computing will provide perfect platform in the healthcare information technology space. Many hospitals may share infrastructure with large number of systems linked together. By this pooling the hospitals automatically reduce the cost and increase utilization.

The resources are delivered only when they are required. This also means realtime availability of patient information for doctors, nursing staff and other support services personnel from any internet enabled device [5]. II.ARCHITECTURE AND CHARACTERISTICS OF CLOUD COMPUTING Cloud computing, defined by NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) is a technology that supports ubiquity, it is convenient, supplies on demand access to the network for sharing computing resources (e. g.

, networks, servers, storage, applications and services), can be launched and developed quickly with minimal management and without service provider interaction. The figure 1 shows visual model of cloud computing definition and this model is composed of five essential characteristics, three service models, and four deployment models.Figure 1: Cloud computing overview model (NIST) A. Characteristics 1. On-demand self-service.

A consumer can unilaterally provision computing capabilities, such as server time and network storage, as needed automatically without requiring human interaction with each service provider. 2. Broad network access. Capabilities are available over the network and accessed through standard mechanisms that promote use by heterogeneous thin or thick client platforms (e. g.

, mobile phones, tablets, laptops, and workstations). 3. Resource pooling.The provider’s computing resources are pooled to serve multiple consumers using a multi-tenant model, with different physical and virtual resources dynamically assigned and reassigned according to consumer demand. There is a sense of location independence in that the customer generally has no control or knowledge over the exact location of the provided resources but may be able to specify location at a higher level © 2013, IJCSMC All Rights Reserved 239 Atiya Parveen et al, International Journal of Computer Science and Mobile Computing Vol. Issue.

5, May- 2013, pg. 238-243 of abstraction (e. g. , country, state, or datacenter).

Examples of resources include storage, processing, memory, and network bandwidth. 4. Rapid elasticity. Capabilities can be elastically provisioned and released, in some cases automatically, to scale rapidly outward and inward commensurate with demand.

To the consumer, the capabilities available for provisioning often appear to be unlimited and can be appropriated in any quantity at any time. 5. Measured service.Cloud systems automatically control and optimize resource use by leveraging a metering capability1 at some level of abstraction appropriate to the type of service (e. g.

, storage, processing, bandwidth, and active user accounts). Resource usage can be monitored, controlled, and reported, providing transparency for both the provider and consumer of the utilized service. [6] B. Cloud computing Service Models: 1.

Software as a Service (SaaS). The capability provided to the consumer is to use the provider’s applications running on a cloud infrastructure2.The applications are accessible from various client devices through either a thin client interface, such as a web browser (e. g.

, web-based email), or a program interface. The consumer does not manage or control the underlying cloud infrastructure including network, servers, operating systems, storage, or even individual application capabilities, with the possible exception of limited user-specific application configuration settings. 2. Platform as a Service (PaaS).The capability provided to the consumer is to deploy onto the cloud infrastructure consumer-created or acquired applications created using programming languages, libraries, services, and tools supported by the provider.

3 The consumer does not manage or control the underlying cloud infrastructure including network, servers, operating systems, or storage, but has control over the deployed applications and possibly configuration settings for the application-hosting environment.