Doctors slow to embrace cloud computing

One out of four healthcare providers are now using tablets in their practice, with another 21% expecting to do so in the next 12 months, and more than half are using a smartphone at work, InformationWeek says.

These findings are part of CompTIA's Third Annual Healthcare IT Insights and Opportunities Study, which relied on separate online surveys of 350 doctors, dentists, and other healthcare providers or administrators, and 400 IT firms with healthcare IT practices. CompTIA conducted the interviews in late July and early August.

Research shows that mobile devices are used in the office for maintaining schedules, appointments and interacting with nurses, Technorati reports. But because providers must qualify how to use tablets and smartphones to retrieve records securely, they are still working out their understanding of such issues, according to Tim Herbert, CompTIA's VP of research.

"Some healthcare providers, especially the smaller practices, are likely not fully aware of all the various security vulnerabilities associated with mobile devices, such as unencrypted data, mobile malware, transmitting data via an open WiFi hotspot, and the need for remote data wiping capabilities."

Adoption of cloud computing solutions in the healthcare industry is clearly in its early stages. The CompTIA study finds low familiarity (57%) and even lower usage (5%). It's worth noting, though, that some healthcare providers are likely using cloud-based applications, like software as a service, and not thinking of it as cloud computing, VSR notes.