Today, I am going to be discussing the Deloitte Consulting LLP case study which utilizes the IBM Cloud to offer a solution to state healthcare agencies’ complex issues.  “To help state healthcare agencies address new regulations, IBM Business Partner Deloitte teamed with IBM to develop the Medicaid Enterprise Solution (MES) HealthInteractive Platform running on IBM® Cloud™ technology. With MES, state Medicaid programs can keep IT up-to-date with less effort and expense while aligning with federal guidance” (IBM, 2019, p.1).  I have chosen this case study because it shows how cloud-based solutions can be employed for enterprise-wide solutions that can be more cost effective and less complex.  “For decades, state healthcare programs relied on large legacy Medicaid Management Information Systems (MMIS) to support core functions. To address the growing cost and complexity involved in maintaining and updating these platforms, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) established guidelines to shift programs toward a new approach to IT—one focused on modular, interoperable solutions” (IBM, 2019, p.2).  As these MMIS systems need to be updated and aligned with changing federal guidelines, I believe a cloud-based approach is the best possible solution.   In the next couple of paragraphs, I will offer the advantages and disadvantages of using Cloud Computing and offer my insight into why I agree with this IBM Cloud solution.

The first advantage to a cloud computing healthcare solution, such as the one in the Deloitte case study, is the lowering of costs. “Hospitals and healthcare providers are freed from the need to purchase the hardware and servers outrightly. There are no up-front charges associated with cloud storage of data. You only pay for the resources you actually use which results in massive cost savings” (Kamani, 2019).  Other major advantages of cloud-based solutions are the ability to scale the solution to fit the enterprise and the ease of interoperability.  “Having the patient’s data in the cloud also promotes interoperability among the various segments of the healthcare industry- pharmaceuticals, insurance, and payments. This allows for a seamless transfer of data between the different stakeholders thus accelerating healthcare delivery and introducing efficiency in the process” (Kamani, 2019).  Disadvantages of cloud computing in healthcare solutions include Security concerns, which is always of utmost importance when dealing with people’s confidential medical records, and compliance to data regulation laws such as HIPPA, HITECH and GDPR.

The reason that I like the Deloitte solution so much is because they have taken the time to address issues like the CMS Guidelines and security of the MES system.  “The VMware Cloud Foundation on IBM Cloud platform provides firewall services, virtual SAN components and other virtual resources for rapid deployment of the MES solution. “When we provision an environment, we request the necessary components,” says Spaulding. “The model is really infrastructure as code—with VMware Cloud Foundation, we essentially have a virtualized data center that allows us to quickly and dynamically adapt but also have the layered security controls we need (IBM, 2019).”  The result of Deloitte’s hard work is a solution that provides cost cutting and reduces complexity with a modular approach.  I believe that solutions like these in the Healthcare industry will transform the industry when coupled with Big Data analytics and artificial intelligence algorithms.  I’m excited to see how these technologies can solve future issues in the healthcare industry.

Check out this video for more on the Deloitte HealthcareInteractive Solution:

References:

IBM Corporation, (2019). Deloitte Consulting [Case Study] Retrieved from https://www.ibm.com/case-studies/deloitte-consulting

Kamani, V. (October 2, 2019). 5 Ways Cloud Computing Is Impacting Healthcare [Online Article] Retrieved from https://www.healthitoutcomes.com/doc/ways-cloud-computing-is-impacting-healthcare-0001