Moving applications and other IT infrastructure components into "the cloud" is now a standard approach to the management of information technology (IT) resources. Although other business sectors may be leading the way, the health care industry's adoption of cloud computing is rapidly accelerating. A growing number of vendors are offering services such as electronic medical records, medical imaging, telemedicine, care management, and others provide health organizations with an array of options to more efficiently and cost effectively manage their IT infrastructure.
Foley's Health Care Industry Team and Information Technology & Outsourcing Practice have recently authored a white paper entitled Cloud Computing for Health Care Organizations — A Practical Framework for Managing Risks. The white paper provides essential legal and practical advice about cloud computing and its increasing use in the health care industry. It explores in depth the primary legal risks associated with hosting and accessing clinical data in the cloud computing environment, including the knotty privacy and security issues associated with the use of cloud technology. Also included in the white paper is a comprehensive discussion of cloud computing contracting issues, strategies for successfully negotiating cloud agreements, and sample contract provisions for "best practice" solutions. A copy of the white paper is available here.
For more information about health care cloud computing, please join us for Foley's upcoming Web conference on Health Care Data in the Cloud: Strategies for Contracting With Cloud Providers. The Web conference will be conducted on January 16, 2013 at 1:00 p.m. Eastern. To find out more about this program, please click here.
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