How Google and MEDITECH are charting a new course in digital healthcare

July 20, 2021 |  Health IT, Sustainability, cloud computing

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One of the most exciting initiatives that Google has recently undertaken is expanding our support of healthcare providers and their patients.

For healthcare organizations, Google’s focus is on providing them with innovative and scalable technology solutions to generate novel insights, improve care delivery, and enable greater efficiencies in the healthcare system.

And for patients, Google continues to envision new ways to communicate with healthcare providers and automate routine interactions, like refilling prescriptions or reporting diagnostic information like blood sugar levels or blood pressure readings.

But we know we can’t do this alone, so we’ve established collaborations with leading healthcare IT companies like MEDITECH to enable their customers to leverage technology in ways that simply weren’t possible as recently as five years ago.

MEDITECH’s reputation as a hands-on partner to its customers aligns with Google’s philosophy of providing the exact tools that people need to achieve their goals — and that human element is a key component to how MEDITECH and Google approach the development of new healthcare solutions

Examples of GCP/MEDITECH alignment

By adopting Google Cloud Platform as its preferred data storage solution, MEDITECH is able to remove barriers that otherwise hinder clinicians from accessing important information, enabling them to use any device to update patient records and see changes in real time, while keeping patient data more secure than ever.

Through the High Availability SnapShot solution that uses GCP for worry-free encryption and backup of patient records, MEDITECH eliminates system downtime and keeps clinicians working to treat patients. This significantly reduces stress for providers and builds trust among patients.

GCP also allows MEDITECH to customize its procurement process by offering a variety of configurations within the implementation contract, such as the MEDITECH as a Service (MaaS) solution that takes full advantage of Expanse, with the added flexibility, scalability, and sustainability of a subscription payment model.

This provides healthcare organizations with a more efficient deployment, tailored to the specific needs of their clinicians and patients.

During and after COVID

During the pandemic, MEDITECH realized operational benefits from GCP when its employees shifted primarily to remote work, allowing them to carry out new Expanse implementations via teleconferencing.

MEDITECH then leveraged its cloud-based resources to quickly expand Virtual Visits to customers — this reflects how Google supported expansion of remote communications for many industries during the pandemic. 

As COVID-19 recedes, the value of cloud computing will remain, specifically in the areas of interoperability and personalized medicine. 

By supporting easier sharing of information, GCP powers actionable healthcare insights so that patients don’t have to wait for treatment.

MEDITECH’s new Genomics solution empowers providers, patients, and organizations, and taps into the power of GCP to analyze raw genomic data and translate that information into new protocols for patient care.

Where do we go from here?

The new frontier in healthcare is enhancing the consumer experience, giving patients more tools to be active participants in their own care. 

Communication with care teams via patient portals, monitoring and reporting diagnostic information via wearable devices, and simplified admissions and follow-up care are all growing trends in healthcare today, and the MEDITECH/GCP collaboration puts both companies in the position to respond to these needs with intuitive, dependable, and secure digital tools. 

Google and MEDITECH have certainly learned a lot through our new partnership — and we are collectively looking forward to taking what we’ve learned to even further improve how clinicians do their work and how patients manage their own care.


Get an in-depth look at MEDITECH's High Availability Snapshot, which ensures patient safety and enables clinicians to provide uninterrupted quality care.

Sign Up For The Doctors' Hours High Availability SnapShot Webinar

Written by Esteban Lopez, MD, Americas Market Lead of Healthcare and Life Sciences, Google Cloud

Dr. Esteban López is a results-oriented, and energetic bilingual physician leader and TED speaker recognized as a change agent and thought leader with proven success in P+L and medical management. Dr. López launched the Affordable Care Act in Texas, resulting in 250,000 enrollments. He is a member of the Board of Directors of Addus HomeCare and founder of Hopscotch Health Children's Urgent Care in San Antonio, TX.
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