Will Blockchain Revolutionize Healthcare?
Blockchain technology is revolutionizing the healthcare sector in different and beneficial ways
Blockchain technology is transforming healthcare in a number of ways, from patient-centric hospital networks to higher quality medicine. Blockchain is a decentralized digital ledger of transactions that records data in a form that resists hacking and data alteration by replicating transactions and spreading them to “nodes” across the network, as covered in previous posts.
The medical sector will be able to securely communicate and access patient data: To achieve true interoperability, the technology would “enable fine-tunable transparency while maintaining only the best security requirements,” according to Morey. This will improve health care delivery by enabling health information systems to “work collaboratively within and across organizational boundaries.” One business using blockchain to protect patient data is Chronicled.
Contract discussions will be enhanced by Blockchain: Contract negotiations can be very complicated in the healthcare sector, which can take a lot of time. Yet blockchain already offers a remedy. According to Morey, a company called Curisium is using the technology “to establish a platform for discount negotiation and contract management.” He goes on to say that the platform “enables providers and payers to participate in new contractual arrangements,” which streamlines conventional processes.
Blockchain can connect massive medical networks and encourage innovation: For example, Thailand’s healthcare system now includes a “blockchain, data-driven, patient-centric network” thanks to a startup called Ever. 5 million patients and more than 170 hospitals were connected with the technology. In addition to maintaining close and easy contact with trusted parties, it allows for best-in-class security for all connected data and parties — all on a flexible, future-proof, scalable blockchain base, according to Morey.
Blockchain enables companies to design networks that are both transparent and secure: Using blockchain technology, hospitals can quickly and securely transfer patient data. A blockchain-powered network is “protected by cutting-edge security technologies, and attackers would require enormous computational resources to consider attacking it, significantly limiting the frequency, feasibility and effectiveness of attacks,” Morey argues. Patientory is a business that does this using blockchain. It creates “patient-centric applications” that offer up-to-date patient histories and data, pandemic tracking and reporting, and secure communication with certified healthcare professionals.
