The Digital Revolution Health-Care Regulations

Abstract

The explosion of online health-care data is not an accident, but rather has been driven by both regulatory forces and the increased availability of technology platforms to support it. Most of us can now access a significant portion of our health-care information online. Portals exist that allow us to receive and store data from hospitals, our primary care physician, our specialists, our pharmacy, and even data that we've uploaded ourselves, such as home monitoring of weight, blood pressure and blood sugar. Once the data is placed in these portals, it is not only stored, but can be trended for ready use and interpreta-tion for our next doctor's visit, or made quickly available to doctors in emergency situations. This column provides an understanding of the legisla-tion that has driven this digital health revolution, with some glimpses into the future. For data center design engineers, this is significant in terms of the approaches to design facilities with the ability to scale for these loads in health-care data center applications.