Google Cloud Digital LeaderDigital transformation with Google CloudHard
A healthcare provider is undertaking a digital transformation to improve patient care and operational efficiency. They need a secure, compliant, and highly available platform to host their Electronic Health Records (EHR) system, which includes both a traditional relational database for patient records and a document management system for patient files (images, PDFs). The platform must support HIPAA compliance and allow for granular access control. Which Google Cloud services combination would best meet these diverse requirements for the EHR system?
- ACompute Engine for the application, Cloud SQL for relational data, and Cloud Storage for documents.
- BCloud Storage for relational data and Cloud SQL for documents.
- CBigQuery for relational data and Cloud Spanner for documents.
- DCloud Firestore for all data, and Cloud Functions for application logic.
Show answer & explanationAnswer & explanation
Correct answer: A. Compute Engine for the application, Cloud SQL for relational data, and Cloud Storage for documents.
Compute Engine provides the virtual machines to host the EHR application. Cloud SQL is a managed relational database suitable for structured patient records, and Cloud Storage provides highly durable and scalable object storage for unstructured documents like images and PDFs. This combination offers the necessary flexibility, security, and compliance (with proper configuration) for an EHR system.
Why the other options are wrong
- B. Cloud Storage is for objects, not relational data. Cloud SQL is for relational data, not documents.
- C. BigQuery is a data warehouse for analytics, not a transactional database. Cloud Spanner is a transactional database, but Cloud Storage is more appropriate for document management than Spanner.
- D. Cloud Firestore is a NoSQL document database, which might not be ideal for all structured patient records, and Cloud Functions alone might be too granular for a full EHR application.
EHR on Google Cloud
Leveraging a combination of Google Cloud services to host Electronic Health Records systems, ensuring security, compliance (e.g., HIPAA), and data diversity.
- Compute Engine or GKE for application hosting.
- Cloud SQL or Cloud Spanner for relational patient data.
- Cloud Storage for unstructured documents and images.
- IAM and security services for granular access control and compliance.
Memory trick: EHR: Compute, SQL for records, Storage for files.