Cloud technology and EHR data management

Cloud technology today is being leveraged in various aspects of life ranging from entertainment to business. Among its several applications, interesting ones are those in the general field of scientific data management. The data generated here is typically of huge volumes from multiple sources and sharing often becomes imperative for collaboration among professionals and access to users. At the same time, the information involved is usually of a highly sensitive nature posing risks in sharing. In this work, we look closely at the healthcare domain where data was traditionally stored using pen-and-paper and has now shifted to electronic records being stored online. The next paradigm shift would be the storage of healthcare records using cloud technologies. This is precisely the focus of our work. We provide a background of existing cloud services, give details of data management in electronic health records (EHR), explain how cloud services can be useful in EHR data management and discuss the benefits as well as risks involved. We conclude with a list of open issues that present the potential for further research.