An application architecture to facilitate multi-site clinical trial collaboration in the cloud

The regulatory environment in the U.S. healthcare sector and the privacy concerns surrounding personal health information complicate research collaborations between investigators, especially collaborations across healthcare organizational boundaries. This paper examines software systems traditionally employed by healthcare providers to utilize clinical data for research purposes within and between organizations. A conceptual software architecture utilizing cloud-based services is then proposed that, it is suggested, may facilitate collaboration between researchers in multisite clinical trials. Several related challenge areas are then identified.