Improving patient care, optimizing operational efficiencies, and gaining financial insights are imperative in today’s modern healthcare industry. And as this sector grows, so, too, does the need to leverage big data analytics—where information is turned into actionable insights from vast amounts of complex data.
However, the journey toward fully integrated data analytics requires a careful approach to ensuring compliance with healthcare regulations and ethical standards. Thankfully, the concept of data sovereignty emerged to maintain control over data and AI processes, particularly in regulated industries like healthcare, where privacy and data protection are paramount.
With the right approach, organizations can assume complete control of their storage, processing, and transfer of data.
How Data Analytics Changes Healthcare
Healthcare providers handle hundreds of information bits daily. Naturally, innovative professionals leverage data analytics to make sense of the noise and inform decisions on medical equipment, patient images, nursing notes, clinical trial results, and more.
Research shows that as of 2021, 96% of all non-federal acute care hospitals in the U.S. had adopted certified electronic health record (EHR) technology, a prerequisite for data analytics.
These modern analytics tools allow healthcare professionals to evolve treatment quality, better predict patient outcomes, and personalize care for chronic illnesses. In addition, by transforming raw information into actionable insights, industry practitioners can accelerate medication and treatment production, ultimately elevating care delivery.
The Challenges of Using Data Analytics
Several critical factors make data analytics in healthcare key challenges.
One major issue is data storage. With the massive volume of healthcare data and structured and unstructured data combined, storing such large amounts of information is significant in cost and complexity.
Data diversity is another challenge. Different medical facilities, such as hospitals, pharmacies, and private clinics, use various medical software and data formats. This presents problems in comparing, analyzing, transferring, and sharing data across different systems.
Major hurdles also exist to data technologies and staff. If medical organizations want to access the potential of healthcare data, they have to either procure analytics software and solutions or hire data scientists and analysts to manage it.
These costs can be very high for a large medical facility. Moreover, relying on a third-party solution requires medical organizations to choose the right analytics technology to use data effectively—while ensuring accuracy and compliance.
Why Data Control Matters in Healthcare
Data has become one of the most valuable assets. However, as it increases in importance, the need to maintain data sovereignty emerges as a roadblock and an opportunity. Traditionally, data sovereignty is the principle that digital data is controlled by the laws and rules of the nation where the data is stored.
Data sovereignty ensures that sensitive patient data is stored, processed, and shared according to strict compliance standards, such as HIPAA in the U.S. and GDPR in Europe. It provides a framework to safeguard data against breaches and misuse, helping maintain patient trust while meeting regulatory requirements.
By keeping data within certain regions, healthcare organizations can use local security measures that reduce the risk of unauthorized access and follow legal rules. Processing data where it is collected also ensures that it won’t be moved across borders, which builds trust with patients and makes it easier to follow local regulations. Data sovereignty also allows healthcare providers to use big data without risking privacy, giving them the ability to innovate while ensuring that new technologies improve care and meet ethical standards.
Simple Steps to Control Data in Big Data Projects
Healthcare organizations can take proactive steps to make sure they follow data sovereignty in their data analytics.
First, they can set clear rules for how data is handled, accessed, and stored. This helps maintain control and ensures compliance by outlining who can access data and when.
Next, investing in secure systems, like cloud platforms that support regional data sovereignty or secure on-premises systems, lets organizations control where data is stored and processed, meeting security and compliance needs. It’s also important to work with trusted vendors who follow data sovereignty standards and have good data protection practices.
Finally, creating a culture of privacy and compliance, with regular training on data handling, helps reduce risks and strengthen data practices.
The Market’s Leading Sovereignty Cloud for Healthcare
Enterprises in Europe are increasingly embracing sovereign cloud. Accenture’s research revealed that 37% are already invested and 44% plan to invest in the next two years.
The following list sheds light on the market’s leading solutions and their core capabilities to help inform your investments.
Microsoft Cloud for Sovereignty
This solution creates strong protections in the cloud, offering extra security through tools like cloud guardrails, policies, and encryption controls.
The Microsoft Cloud for Sovereignty helps governments, public-sector organizations, and industries with strict rules to manage their data in the cloud while meeting specific requirements for security, privacy, and regulations.
Moreover, Microsoft’s offering gives organizations the tools, guidance, and protections they need to use the public cloud while keeping their data safe and compliant. It offers more control, allowing businesses to use Microsoft’s large cloud services while still following local rules.
Google Sovereign Cloud
Google’s solution empowers you to take control of your digital sovereignty with full oversight and security.
You can manage each workload separately using the right controls, ensuring your data meets local security and residency laws. Additionally, local partners provide support and transparency while handling key management and services in line with your region’s regulations.
For sensitive data, an air-gapped option is available to meet strict residency and security needs.
Sovereign controls help you manage where your data is stored, its security, and how it is encrypted, while trusted local partners provide extra protection and oversight, helping you stay compliant.
IBM Cloud
IBM delivers many capabilities that help enhance clients’ sovereignty in the public cloud.
As clients manage data residency requirements, IBM helps them handle customer data in their preferred regions and geographies. Customers can choose where to build and host their workloads, and IBM will expand its global data center network, including the new Multizone Region (MZR) in Madrid, Spain.
The company also assists with data privacy needs by offering solutions like IBM Cloud Hyper Protect Crypto Services, which provide “Keep Your Own Key” encryption, ensuring clients have exclusive control over their keys and meeting privacy requirements like GDPR.
Additionally, IBM Cloud offers advanced data protection through confidential computing, securing data even while in use.
Conclusion
The need for data sovereignty in healthcare is growing as the use of data analytics increases. By taking control of their data, healthcare organizations can ensure they meet privacy rules and make the most of big data.
Leading cloud providers like Microsoft, Google, and IBM offer secure options that help organizations manage data while keeping it safe and compliant.
Organizations should focus on their most important use cases and workloads while choosing partners with experience in multi-vendor solutions. By taking this approach, they can create a strong sovereign cloud plan that builds trust, offers better transparency, and helps them take control of their data.
These solutions help build trust, improve transparency, and support innovation, all while meeting important privacy standards.
