What Apple's iCloud could mean for health care

Topics: Remote monitoring, Telemedicine, Information Technology, Privacy and Security, IT Infrastructure

June 10, 2011

Apple's new iCloud, launched this week in San Francisco, promises to change the way consumers store and access information and could signify a giant leap forward for mobile health IT.

Apple's CEO Steve Jobs on Monday unveiled the iCloud, a no-cost online storage and synchronizing service for files and software, the New York Times reports. According to Jobs, the new service will "demote the PC to just be a device" and end manual syncing of mobile devices. With the iCloud, Apple automatically stores on its servers many of the new files loaded onto an iPad, iPhone, or Mac computer, making the files immediately available on any of the owner's Apple devices.

The cloud service currently is available for iTunes and will become available for other services in the fall, the Times reports.

Health care applications
The iCloud's launch could have important implications for health care and the development of health IT. As a growing number of health providers and hospitals integrate iPads and iPhones into electronic health records (EHRs), the iCloud promises to facilitate device management by keeping data in the cloud and accessible to multiple users. According to Healthcare IT News, the iCloud could prove most valuable for sharing medical images between Apple devices.    

In addition, the iCloud is expected to facilitate universal remote computer access. Users would be able to access their desktop and applications using their Apple account on any Mac computer in the world. Such versatility could help develop solutions for remotely accessing information from EHRs or health information exchanges.

Security concerns
Despite the iCloud's potential benefits, health providers remain concerned about the security of information stored in the cloud. Highly publicized security breaches of data stored in other cloud storage systems, such as those maintained by Sony and Amazon, have highlighted the iCloud's potential vulnerabilities, the International Business Times reports (Helft, Times, 6/6;Thompson, Healthcare IT News, 6/7; International Business Times, 6/7).