As a clinician and educator, I think the ChromeOS platform is a good fit for healthcare workers. My foray into taking ChromeOS more seriously as a platform started when I needed to quickly replace my broken PC with a “just works” solution to be able to do my telehealth appointments.
As healthcare workers, we’re held to higher privacy standards with HIPAA, so a platform like ChromeOS, like any platform, should be examined for both its potential limitations and benefits.
What are some ways ChromeOS can benefit healthcare?
- HIPAA Compliance: Privacy is one of the most important ethical issues in healthcare/tech integration. Admittedly, the Google ecosystem (which relies on ads for its search engine revenue) doesn’t grant personal users as much privacy as say, a privacy-first search engine like DuckDuckGo or a browser like Brave. However, Chromebooks can be set up for better HIPAA compliance since its cloud-first approach can ensure data is being saved on secure electronic health record systems instead of a local device which can be stolen. Additional Resource: Is Google HIPAA compliant?
- Optimized for all-day performance: Chromebooks’ all-day battery life is important for workers who may not be on their feet all day and not tied to an office, or having to transfer units. ARM-based Chromebooks can provide 10-13 hours of battery life on a charge and Intel-based ones can average at around 8 for an entire work day.
- Easier deployment across large hospital settings: Getting users setup with their accounts is easier with centralized IT dashboards available for IT managers in enterprise versions of ChromeOS. Machines can be easily factory reset while keeping user data synched.
- Minimized security risk: Locking down apps to prevent installation of sketchy extensions or malicious programs is easier with centralized IT management; and the platform’s Linux base has made it less of a target. To date, ChromeOS has never had a ransomware attack taking any machine hostage (I hope this statement won’t age badly).
- Easier to Focus: For those of us who sometimes have trouble concentrating with all the “noise” on many modern OSes (especially Windows 11 and its integration of ads), minimizing the presence of random distracting apps and bloatware/ad apps can make productivity and work feel more focused and smooth.
Limitations and Downsides
My subfield in healthcare doesn’t require any specialty software that might need to be installed locally (for example, X-Ray imaging software, dental software, and legacy billing software).
However, larger healthcare settings that require specialized or legacy/backward-compatible software are probably not a good fit for the ChromeOS platform. Older systems with years of data across several departments are difficult to migrate and upgrade. However, many vendors are moving to more web-based solutions, which often most likely benefit smaller practices that have less complicated requirements.
Additional Resource
For anyone interested in what enterprise deployment of ChromeOS looks like, check out the below book on Amazon (Disclosure slip: Any purchases done through the below affiliate link earns me a small commission, which helps keep the blog lights on!).
Book: ChromeOS System Administrator’s Guide: Implement, manage, and optimize ChromeOS features effectively
Chromebook Reviews 