A feasibility study on medical ASP and IDC from aspects of total amount of medical information and patient migration in Japan

Abstract

 Medical application service provider (ASP) and internet data center (IDC) will be useful to informationization of hospitals and the clinics, and to exchange medical information among them. However, it is necessary to know the total amount of medical information to design the medical ASP/IDC. Also the knowledge of patient migration is necessary to design how to distribute the IDCs. In this study we analyzed these problems using statistic data of Ministry of Labor, Health and Welfare. First, it was found that medical information generated in the entire Japan is about three petabytes per a year. This data can be accommodated in about 1000 racks of storages. Therefore, it can be concluded that the medical ASP/IDC can be realized from the point of the amount of information. Second, it was found that most of patients receive medical services in hospitals and clinics in the same prefecture they live. This result suggests that it may be good that the medical association in each prefecture manages the IDC.