A Guide to DevOps in Healthcare in 2025

If you're working in healthcare, You’ve felt the heat—especially these past few years. The healthcare industry’s been through a roller coaster ride, and it’s been demanding rapid, high-quality results under immense pressure. 

Healthcare had to adapt to new realities like telehealth, remote monitoring, EHRs, and an urgent need for greater system flexibility. If that sounds familiar, then you’re in the right place, because this post is all about how DevOps can help healthcare overcome these challenges. 

We’re diving into what DevOps means for healthcare. By the end of this article, you'll have a deeper understanding of how DevOps is changing healthcare delivery. 

The Agile-DevOps Double Whammy: Why Now?

So, why are we talking about DevOps? Why is it so relevant for healthcare now? Well, the COVID-19 pandemic didn't change how we see healthcare—it changed how we do healthcare IT. During the pandemic, speed became king, and DevOps, paired with Agile, was the way to achieve that speed while maintaining quality. 

Remote operations became a necessity, and there was a push for a fast time-to-market for healthcare software solutions. Healthcare couldn’t wait years to build the perfect product—it needed something functional today that could be refined tomorrow. That’s where Agile and DevOps came in. 

Consider Zipline, for example. They partnered with Novant Health in North Carolina to use drones to deliver medical supplies to hospitals. In just weeks, they were doing what would’ve taken traditional development methods for years. Then there’s telehealth. The number of consumers using telehealth jumped from 11% in 2019 to 46% in April 2020. That’s a 300% increase in less than a year. The secret behind these success stories? Agile delivery and DevOps. 

What is DevOps?

 

DevOps is a cultural shift. DevOps is about bringing development and operations teams together, which traditionally worked in silos. It is the process of getting them to collaborate closely throughout the entire software development lifecycle. This means from development to testing, deployment, and maintenance, everyone is involved. 

It’s also about automating repetitive processes, ensuring that software releases happen not just faster but also with higher quality. DevOps relies on practices like Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment (CI/CD), where changes to code are constantly integrated, tested, and deployed. This ensures that software is always improving in incremental steps—no big, bang release that could break the system all at once. 

Imagine a healthcare system where a new feature for patient scheduling or EHR updates takes months to go live. Then imagine a scenario where that same feature could be developed, tested, and deployed in days, with small tweaks made continuously. The latter is what DevOps can do for healthcare. 

How Does DevOps Fit into Healthcare IT? 

1. Improved Collaboration and Communication  

In healthcare, developers, IT staff, medical professionals each have specialized expertise. DevOps helps break down the silos that often exist between these teams. Instead of waiting for one group to finish their part before another group starts, everyone works in sync. 

This culture of collaboration means that when doctors need something changed in a software tool, they’re not just sending an email and waiting for months. The developers are already working alongside them, incorporating changes based on their feedback. 

2. Faster and Cost-Effective Solutions  

Time is money, but in healthcare, it’s also life. The longer it takes to release a critical application, the more you risk impacting patient care. DevOps uses Lean methodologies to cut out wasted steps and automate repetitive ones. By improving resources and automating deployment, healthcare organizations can reduce costs while delivering services faster. 

Think about cloud services like AWS or Google Cloud. If your internal IT team isn’t adept at configuring these systems efficiently, you could end up with a huge bill. DevOps helps healthcare teams use these resources wisely, reducing costs while maximizing effectiveness. 

3. Increased Quality of Software and Services  

Healthcare software has to work—it can’t fail when a doctor is relying on it for patient data during a surgery. DevOps enhances quality by ensuring continuous testing throughout the software development process. Bugs are caught and fixed quickly, often before they even make it into the production system. 

Infrastructure as Code (IaC) also plays a big role here. IaC allows developers to define the environment that their application will run in, ensuring consistency across testing, staging, and production. This means fewer surprises and fewer things breaking when they go live. 

4. Enhanced Security and Compliance  

Security and compliance are some of the biggest problems in healthcare IT. With patient data on the line, there’s no margin for error. DevOps integrates security into every phase of the development process, a practice often called DevSecOps. Instead of adding security as an afterthought, it’s baked right into the development lifecycle. 

As Alexey Golubev, DevOps team manager at Vention, put it:  

“Healthcare organizations deal with an extensive volume of sensitive patient data, so it’s crucial to configure environments in line with top-tier security guidelines and bolster server defenses.”  

This means that DevOps isn’t only making systems faster; it’s making them safer, too. 

5. Scalability in Times of Crisis  

During the pandemic, healthcare services like telehealth were overwhelmed with demand. Scaling up these systems quickly was the only option.  

DevOps practices like containerization and orchestration mean that applications can scale without compromising performance. Whether it’s managing thousands of remote patient appointments or expanding a telehealth service in response to a new wave of COVID-19, scalability is key. And DevOps makes it possible. 

Agile and DevOps: A Perfect Pairing in Healthcare 

During the pandemic, healthcare had to respond fast, and Agile practices paired with DevOps were the answer. Agile values, like prioritizing working software and responding to changes, were critical. Healthcare organizations couldn’t afford the luxury of lengthy planning cycles. They needed rapid solutions that could adapt and change.  

DevOps made these Agile processes a reality by ensuring software could be continuously improved and quickly deployed. 

Few key Agile principles that took center stage during this time: 

Individuals and Interactions Over Processes and Tools  

Timely feedback from stakeholders was crucial for improving healthcare products and getting them into use. 

Working Software Over Comprehensive Documentation  

There was no time to get bogged down in documentation. The focus was on getting medicines, diagnostic tools, and healthcare software out the door fast. 

Responding to Change Over Following a Plan  

Governments even loosened restrictions during the pandemic to help healthcare innovations like ventilators, vaccines, and telehealth services reach markets quickly. 

These Agile principles combined with DevOps practices helped healthcare adapt quickly when it needed to most. 

Use Cases of DevOps in Healthcare: Real Stories, Real Impact 

DevOps isn't just theory—it’s being put into practice every day across the healthcare industry. Here are some practical use cases where DevOps has had a direct impact: 

Electronic Health Records (EHR) Management  

EHR systems are notorious for being challenging to maintain and update. DevOps can help streamline the development and deployment of EHR software, ensuring that patient records are always accurate, up-to-date, and secure.  

The updates, which used to take months, can now be rolled out within days, ensuring that healthcare professionals always have the latest data at their fingertips. 

Telemedicine and Remote Patient Monitoring  

During the pandemic, telemedicine adoption skyrocketed. But to keep telehealth platforms secure, reliable, and easy to use, continuous development and frequent updates are necessary. DevOps made it possible for healthcare providers to roll out new telehealth features, fixing bugs and adding security improvements without interrupting patient care. 

Medical Device Integration  

Modern hospitals have dozens of different medical devices, each with its own software. DevOps practices help ensure these devices are integrated into the hospital’s network, making sure they all work together, and data is accessed as needed, in real-time. 

Healthcare Mobile Apps  

Mobile apps for healthcare are crucial for patient engagement. Things like appointment scheduling, health tracking, and medication reminders. These apps need frequent updates, new features, and constant security enhancements. DevOps allows these apps to be updated quickly and consistently, enhancing user experience while keeping data secure. 

Facing the Challenges of Implementing DevOps in Healthcare 

1. Sustainable DevOps Environments 

DevOps means many teams sharing ownership of code, and that’s where things can get tricky. Without a clear roadmap, different teams can get out of sync, leading to inconsistent environments. The solution? Create a central set of infrastructural blueprints that serve as a reference for everyone involved. This keeps environments consistent and makes development easier. 

2. Continuous Skill Development 

The success of DevOps depends on the skills of your IT team. They need to understand not only the tools but the cultural changes that come with DevOps. Investing in training and making sure your team stays current on the latest technologies is key. If your team isn’t fully up to speed, bringing in a consultant or outsourcing DevOps to an experienced partner can help bridge the gap. 

3. Integrating AI and Data Science Tools 

AI and machine learning are transforming healthcare, especially when it comes to data analysis and clinical decision support. But integrating these tools into your DevOps pipeline isn’t simple. Teams need to carefully check how these AI tools perform, and make sure they follow stringent security standards. It’s not just about integrating a tool—it’s about making sure it won’t negatively affect the system's functionality or compromise patient data. 

4. Resource Allocation and Efficiency 

It can be easy to think the best way to go is to use the most powerful servers and systems available, but that’s not always the case. Allocating resources effectively means choosing the right tools and optimizing configurations so you get the most value without overspending. Fine-tuning resource allocation means you’re not just throwing money at the problem—you’re solving it intelligently. 

5. Hiring DevOps Experts 

Bringing DevOps to life in a healthcare setting takes more than a few skilled developers. It often requires dedicated DevOps engineers who understand both healthcare and IT. Hiring the right people or working with a partner with experience in healthcare DevOps, can make all the difference. It’s about more than knowing the tools; it’s about understanding how healthcare needs to work. 

How to Implement DevOps in Healthcare 

Create a DevOps Strategy  

Define a mission and align your development, operations, and clinical teams. Get everyone on the same page about what you’re trying to achieve, whether it’s on Google Cloud, AWS, or on-premises solutions. 

Containerization  

Containerization helps decouple software components, ensuring flexibility, scalability, and reliability. Docker and Kubernetes are popular tools here, making it easier to roll out updates and improvements. 

Infrastructure Automation  

Use tools like Terraform, Ansible, or Puppet to automate infrastructure management. Automating these processes reduces the possibility of human error and speeds up system changes. 

CI/CD Integration  

Integrate tools like GitHub Actions for automated builds, testing, and deployment. This ensures that changes are verified before they reach production, reducing downtime and ensuring quality. 

Test Automation  

Testing is critical in healthcare IT—your software has to be reliable. Automate testing so bugs are caught early and fixed immediately. 

Continuous Deployment  

After the code passes all tests, roll it out. This ensures that changes are consistent, and any improvements or features are put into production without delay. 

Round-the-Clock Monitoring  

Implement continuous monitoring to catch any issues as soon as they occur. Real-time alerts help you respond instantly, keeping systems reliable. 

Conclusion: Why DevOps is the Key to Healthcare Innovation 

Healthcare is transforming. The old ways of developing, testing, and deploying healthcare software just aren’t good enough anymore. Patients demand better experiences, doctors and nurses need better tools, and the industry needs to respond faster to crises like COVID-19. 

DevOps brings a culture of collaboration, continuous improvement, and agility to healthcare IT. It makes software faster, more reliable, and safer. By integrating DevOps, healthcare organizations can innovate at a pace that matches the demands of today’s environment. 

If your healthcare organization is ready to embrace this change, the path might not always be easy, but it will be worth it. 

Your Next Step in Healthcare DevOps means bringing together your teams, automating your processes, and continually improving every step of the way.  

If you need guidance or just want a partner who knows what it takes to do this right, you know where to find us.