Healthcare providers who work with patients every day know that nothing is more important than getting the treatment and care they need. Data is important for this task as accurate and timely patient data can be key to making appropriate health care decisions. Security and resilience are important to healthcare technology. Applications used in patient data and healthcare settings should only be securely and accessible by authorized personnel. It is especially important to maintain the device and function as expected when patient care is involved.
Hospitals and healthcare facilities have long relied on traditional virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) solutions, providing access to critical information and tools across facilities and locations, as well as staff who protect patients, employees and corporate data. VDI helps healthcare organizations improve IT infrastructure management, securely expand access to digital tools and data, and reduce costs. Organizations looking for VDI solutions can rely on Azure Virtual Desktop to manage and maintain their IT needs.
For healthcare organizations who want simplicity and move beyond traditional VDIs, Windows 365 is a cloud-based service that organizations can use to create cloud PCs for employees, contractors, or other users. Windows 365 allows administrators to quickly and easily deploy cloud PCs and manage cloud PCs along with physical PCs within Microsoft Intune. Windows 365 offers the productivity, security and collaboration benefits of Microsoft 365.
Microsoft's Windows Cloud Solutions provides the flexibility, scalability and security of Azure Virtual Desktop and Windows 365 to virtualization solutions, including healthcare providers, pharmaceutical companies, and life sciences organizations.
Support your healthcare and clinical workloads with Azure Virtual Desktop
Organizations looking for virtualization options have the flexibility and control using Azure Virtual Desktop. It offers a secure and cost-effective way to support remote desktops and experiences from anywhere with a variety of endpoints. Organizations across the healthcare industry use Azure Virtual Desktop to access clinical and productivity applications and host desktops whenever they need them. Azure Virtual Desktop is managed through the Microsoft Azure portal, allowing administrators to create and manage custom desktop virtualization environments to meet the needs of their organization.
A core business application for healthcare providers is the Electronic Health Record (EHR). One of the top EHR solutions used by healthcare providers around the world is epic. Microsoft and Epic work closely with healthcare organizations interested in adopting Epic HyperDrive running early on Azure Virtual Desktop. Feedback from these early production pilots is used to prioritize product development roadmap and assemble new best practices into draft reference architectures. For more information, see Epic's UserWeb's Azure Virtual Desktop Exploratory Platform Overview (Login Required) to follow future progress.
Microsoft Partner Imprivata announced support for Azure Virtual Desktop on Virtual Kiosk's Windows endpoints in November 2024, sharing Kiosk mode and expanding support beyond Azure Virtual Desktop on Linux devices. Imprivata Solutions is often used by healthcare organizations to support the “tap and go” badge feature in Azure Virtual Desktop Virtual Machines (VMS), so extension to Windows endpoints gives you more options to configure your IT infrastructure to meet the needs of your healthcare workplace.
Azure Virtual Desktop is designed with flexibility and security in mind, and has many components to configure and implement in a way that meets IT requirements. Additional recent updates include:
Remote Help for Microsoft Intune extends support beyond single sessions and also includes Azure Virtual Desktop multi-session capabilities. This is an important milestone for IT administrators managing shared virtual environments. Your organization has additional configuration options with Azure Virtual Desktop for Azure Local (formerly Azure Stack HCI). Azure Local helps your organization meet local needs for performance or data. Alternatively, it supports areas with low connectivity to the Azure public cloud. By bringing the session host closer to its location or extending deployment options to your on-premises infrastructure. See Recent Publishing of Azure Virtual Desktop Results for Azure Local Performance Testing (AMD). Other updates include session host configuration and updates, dynamic autoscaling, and mobile application management (MAM) support
We continue to innovate and build Azure Virtual Desktop to meet the needs of healthcare organizations. Go to “New things in Azure Virtual Desktop.” For more details, please see the page.
Desktop in the cloud with Windows 365
Some healthcare organizations may be looking for desktop virtualization options designed to easily deploy and manage without the need for critical VDI expertise or investment. Windows 365 is a Microsoft Software As a Service (SaaS) solution that provides end users with a familiar personalized experience of Windows from anywhere on any device. Become a dedicated computer for employees in the cloud, holding data, applications, and settings. Windows 365 cloud PCs can be deployed and managed by end-user computing teams alongside physical PCs using Intune.
For healthcare organizations, cloud PCs use some of the most common use cases, including healthcare managers, pharmacies and life science workers, call center employees, and more. Windows 365 also offers the flexibility for IT teams to quickly deploy and scale up virtual desktops as needed, making it a great option for part-time or seasonal workers, or short-term contractors. Windows 365 Enterprise offers employees a dedicated, personalized cloud PC, providing access to Microsoft Cloud desktops 24/7 from any device.
The recent release of Windows 365 offers more options for healthcare organizations looking to expand access to organizations and build resilience.
For organizations looking to increase access to cloud PCs for more employees, Windows 365 Frontline allows you to share one license at a time, based on how you configure your cloud PC. In dedicated mode, each of three users has access to a personalized cloud PC used during shifts or working hours. The commonly available sharing mode allows you to intermittently share frontline cloud PCs between groups of users, providing an impersonal experience. For more information about frontline planning, please visit our study page. Some teams or individuals require additional backups, data resilience, or disaster recovery options. In addition to the Windows 365 Cross Region Disaster Recovery Add-on, Microsoft has released Windows 365 Disaster Recovery Plus. This new add-on offers quick recovery times and fully reserved capacity independent of availability, helping to ensure a quick and reliable recovery in alternative regions. This is especially important for healthcare institutions with additional regulatory or business requirements, such as increasing geographic diversity, restoring time targets, and pre-assigned capacity needs. For more information about Windows 365 Disaster Recovery Plus, see our blog announcement.
For more information about the features and features within Windows 365, see New Features in Windows 365.
Windows365 and Azure Virtual Desktop help organizations improve productivity, stay safe and reduce costs
Organizations around the world see the benefits of adopting Windows Cloud solutions. For many healthcare providers, deploying these solutions will increase productivity, reduce IT costs, and focus on how a scalable and balanced approach will enhance security.
New Technology: Windows 365 and Azure Virtual Desktop Proged Total Economic Impact™ is a 2025 survey conducted by Forrester Consulting and commissioned by Microsoft, and found that organizations can achieve benefits (ROI) in Windows 365 and Azure Virtual Desktop (NPV) above 217% (NPV) above 217% (NPV) above 217% (NPV) above 217% (NPV) above 217% (NPV) from NPV. A combined organization with 2,000 employees. The study also shows Windows 365 and Azure Virtual Using Desktop, employees and contractors have determined that they can save 6-12 minutes a day from avoided outages and delays compared to previous environments. This leads to significant productivity gains and allows healthcare providers to optimize employee efficiency.
To explore more insights, read the Total Economic Impact™ survey conducted by Forrester Consulting.
Learn more about empowering your healthcare team with Windows Cloud Solutions
Microsoft is committed to listening to healthcare customers' testimonials and innovating to meet their needs. Organizations like Baptist Health are seeing cost and time savings by moving their clinical workloads to Azure Virtual Desktop. Join and connect to Azure Virtual Desktop, Windows 365, or Microsoft Intune Tech Communities.
Want to learn more about Windows 365 and Azure Virtual Desktop? Visit the Windows 365 and Azure Virtual Desktop pages.
*Epic is a trademark of Epic Systems Corporation.
Stefan is a leader in cloud endpoint marketing and GTM strategy, with the aim of advancing and transforming all information and commercial end-user computing for frontline workers. His team oversees Windows commercial Windows clients, Windows 365 & Azure Virtual Desktop, Cloud & AI Devices, and Intune. It is a unified endpoint management solution that allows users to access organizational resources and simplify the management and security of apps and devices.
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