Maybe we should put health records on the blockchain, says Galvan

MMore than 250,000 people die due to medical errors in the United States each year, Johns Hopkins University estimated In 2016, most of these were due to systemic problems, including poorly coordinated care.

Patient records have usually been stored by a person’s primary care nurse. If that patient has a medical emergency in an area where the primary care provider is available, these records can be used. Unfortunately, this is not always the case. For example, if a person moves across the country or goes on vacation and is in a car accident, it is not easy to access their records at home.

If a doctor does not have access to previous injuries, illnesses or allergies, it can mean the difference between life and death. A way to solve it? Place records on the blockchain.

In October last year, the US Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Information Security, released a report about possible use of blockchain in healthcare. If electronic health records were to be stored on a blockchain, it is said, this could create a “comprehensive, simple source of accurate medical records” that gives insurers direct access to verified health services while helping to push forward medical analysis.

That report stated that medical data technically should not be placed on the blockchain, but rather “blockchain-based medical record systems can be linked to existing medical record software and act as a superior, simple display of a patient’s medical record.”

Galvan, which has its headquarters in Lehi, is a company that focuses on connecting the healthcare and blockchain worlds. Galvan is working to establish itself as an important global source of medical information, from allowing patients to manage and store their personal records to showing patients “which treatments are most effective based on outcomes.”

Galvan CEO Adam Sharp says that the current process of the health record system is “lumpy”. Sharp, a graduate of the University of Utah School of Medicine, says that if medical information changes and a patient develops a new allergy or medical condition outside of their primary care provider, that patient will need to go through their primary care provider to change the medical record.

While doctors are crucial in making diagnoses, each person’s individual record should belong to that person, Sharp says.