Hey healthcare developers: here’s some news that might interest you. Google has announced that its cloud platform will now be HIPAA compliant and will support business associate agreement going forward, according to Healthcare IT News.
This is not Google’s first move into HIPAA compliance, HIN notes. Google started striking business associate agreements back in 2013, when the HIPAA Final Omnibus Rule went into effect, which made business associates accountable for violating certain HIPAA privacy and security rules.
Now, Google is announcing support for business agreements for its customers. Customers who are subject to HIPAA regulations on the Google cloud platform can count on HIPAA compliance by Google.
This is a smart move by Google, which is poised to snap up big revenues from healthcare cloud activity. According to one research report, global market for cloud computing in healthcare hit $4 billion by the end of 2013, and it seems extremely likely that this number will grow dramatically in coming years.
Google is taking other steps into the health care scene as well. For example, it recently introduced Google Helpouts, a tool for videoconferencing which requires a business associate agreement, which includes supporting telemedicine services.
