  Cloud computing in eHealth is an emerging area for only few years. There
needs to identify the state of the art and pinpoint challenges and possible
directions for researchers and applications developers. Based on this need, we
have conducted a systematic review of cloud computing in eHealth. We searched
ACM Digital Library, IEEE Xplore, Inspec, ISI Web of Science and Springer as
well as relevant open-access journals for relevant articles. A total of 237
studies were first searched, of which 44 papers met the Include Criteria. The
studies identified three types of studied areas about cloud computing in
eHealth, namely (1) cloud-based eHealth framework design (n=13); (2)
applications of cloud computing (n=17); and (3) security or privacy control
mechanisms of healthcare data in the cloud (n=14). Most of the studies in the
review were about designs and concept-proof. Only very few studies have
evaluated their research in the real world, which may indicate that the
application of cloud computing in eHealth is still very immature. However, our
presented review could pinpoint that a hybrid cloud platform with mixed access
control and security protection mechanisms will be a main research area for
developing citizen centred home-based healthcare applications.
