EHR Healthcare Case Study Guide 2026: Master the PCA Exam Scenario
If you're preparing for the GCP Professional Cloud Architect (PCA) exam in 2026, you already know that case studies are the "make or break" part of the test. Among them, EHR Healthcare stands out as a classic legacy-to-cloud migration scenario that tests your ability to balance strict compliance (HIPAA) with modern technical agility.
The Scenario: Why EHR Healthcare Matters
EHR Healthcare is a leading provider of electronic health record software. Their existing system is a monolithic application running in on-premises data centers. They face challenges with scalability, disaster recovery, and the increasing cost of maintaining aging hardware.
From an exam perspective, this case study is all about hybrid cloud, GKE, and data security. Google wants to see if you can take a rigid, legacy environment and transform it into a resilient, global SaaS platform without violating healthcare regulations.
Key Business Requirements
Before diving into the tech, let's look at what the business actually wants—because that's what drives the architecture questions:
- Global Expansion: They need to support users across multiple regions with low latency.
- Continuous Deployment: Move away from "big bang" releases to frequent, small updates.
- Cost Optimization: Reduce OpEx by moving away from owned data centers.
- Security & Compliance: This is non-negotiable. HIPAA compliance and data encryption at rest and in transit are critical.
Exam Tip: Whenever you see "Healthcare" or "Pll/PHI" in a GCP exam, your mind should immediately jump to Cloud DLP, IAM roles, and Encryption keys (CMEK). For a deeper look at security, see our Zero Trust guide.
Technical Deep Dive: The Target Architecture
To meet EHR Healthcare's goals, we recommend a multi-layered approach using Google Cloud's best practices:
1. Compute: GKE for Microservices
The monolithic app should be containerized and deployed on Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE). Why? Because GKE provides the scalability they need for global growth and supports the rolling updates required for continuous deployment. For most PCA scenarios, GKE Autopilot is the preferred choice for reducing operational overhead — learn more in our GKE guide.
2. Database: Managed Stability
For transactional patient records, Cloud SQL (MySQL or PostgreSQL) is the standard choice with High Availability (HA) enabled across zones. For massive, non-relational diagnostic data, consider Cloud Bigtable or Cloud Storage using lifecycle policies to manage costs.
3. Networking: Hybrid Connectivity
EHR won't move everything overnight. A Dedicated Interconnect or Cloud VPN is necessary to bridge their on-premises data centers with their new GCP VPC. This ensures secure data transfer during the migration phase.
The "Catch" Questions
The exam won't just ask "What service to use?" It will give you constraints. Common EHR Healthcare "traps" include:
- Data Residency: "The data must stay in a specific region." (Solution: Use Resource Usage Restrictions in Organization Policies).
- Disaster Recovery: "Recovery time must be under 30 minutes." (Solution: Use multi-regional buckets and cross-region database replicas).
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
What is the biggest technical hurdle for EHR Healthcare?
The transition from a monolithic architecture to microservices while maintaining strict compliance. This requires a robust strategy for data synchronization between on-premises and GCP during the migration.
How does HIPAA compliance affect architectural choices?
It dictates that every service must support encryption at rest and in transit. You must also implement audit logging across all resources and ensure that only authorized personnel have access to Patient Health Information (PHI) via Identity and Access Management (IAM).
What is the role of Cloud DLP in this scenario?
Cloud DLP is used to automatically scan and redact sensitive information from diagnostic logs or reports, ensuring that PHI is never accidentally exposed to developers or non-medical staff.
How to secure administrative access to EHR apps?
Use Identity-Aware Proxy (IAP) to provide secure, context-aware access to administrative interfaces without exposed IP addresses or complex VPN management.
Where to store large medical imaging data?
Large diagnostic images should be stored in Cloud Storage with bucket-level IAM and lifecycle policies to move older data to Coldline or Archive classes to optimize costs — see our cost strategies.
Final Thoughts for 2026
Approaching EHR Healthcare isn't about memorizing the scenario—it's about understanding the patterns. If you can handle a healthcare migration, you've mastered 50% of the architecture principles needed for the PCA exam.
Ready to test your knowledge?
Take our dedicated Case Study Practice Exam to see if you can handle EHR Healthcare questions under pressure.
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