Cloud computing provides the capability to use computing and storage resources on a metered basis and reduce the investments in an organization�s computing infrastructure. The spawning and deletion of virtual machines running on physical hardware and being controlled by hypervisors is a cost-efficient and flexible computing paradigm. In addition, the integration and widespread availability of large amounts of sanitized information such as health care records can be of tremendous benefit to researchers and practitioners. However, as with any technology, the full potential of the cloud cannot be achieved without understanding its capabilities, vulnerabilities, advantages, and trade-offs. We propose a new method of achieving the maximum benefit from cloud computation with minimal risk. Issues such as data ownership, privacy protections, data mobility, quality of service and service levels, bandwidth costs, data protection, and support have to be tackled in order to achieve the maximum benefit from cloud computation with minimal risk.