Why Health Systems Are Moving IT Infrastructure to the Cloud in 2026

Healthcare organizations are increasingly rethinking where and how they run their IT infrastructure. According to Elizabeth Stricker, BSN, RN and health technology and leadership expert, in her recent TechTarget article,  the move is being driven by a combination of aging infrastructure, growing AI demands, scalability needs, and the desire to make better use of healthcare data.

But the article makes one thing clear: there’s no single approach to cloud adoption.

Some organizations, like WellSpan, have taken an aggressive cloud-first approach, moving nearly their entire technology portfolio—including their EHR—to the cloud. Others are taking a more selective route. Seattle Children’s, for example, uses a multi-cloud strategy while keeping certain specialized patient care systems on-premises. Meanwhile, other health systems evaluate applications individually based on cost, security, technical requirements, and business value. One major reason for the shift is AI. As healthcare organizations experiment with AI, analytics, and other data-intensive technologies, they need computing resources that can scale more easily than traditional data centers. Cloud infrastructure can provide that flexibility without requiring organizations to continually invest in new hardware. However, moving to the cloud isn’t simply a technical project. Stricker emphasizes the importance of stakeholder involvement, repeatable migration processes, governance, security, and workforce training. In fact, organizational readiness may be just as important as the technology itself.

Stricker’s main takeaway is that the goal isn’t necessarily to move everything to the cloud. The right strategy depends on the organization, its applications, and its long-term priorities. Whether the answer is cloud-first, hybrid, or multi-cloud, successful migrations require careful planning—and enough time to do the job right.

 

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