Blockchain In Healthcare
In affluent countries, healthcare accounts for a large amount of the gross domestic product (GDP). On the other hand, hospital costs are continuing to climb. Unnecessary activities and information leakage are also problematic.
This is one area where blockchain technology can help. It can handle a variety of functions, including secure encrypting of patient data and epidemic control.
Estonia was a forerunner in this field, implementing blockchain technology in healthcare in 2012. Blockchain is currently utilized to manage healthcare billing, 95 percent of health information, and 99 percent of prescriptions data.
What is Blockchain?
The phrase “blockchain” refers to shared, unchanging documentation of a series of transactions, each of which can be comprised of one block and kept together through encryption keys (“hashes”).
Those keys or signatures are stored in shared ledgers and linked together by devices or programs. Each node keeps a copy of the complete chain, continually modified and synchronized.
Blockchain Applications in Healthcare
Blockchain can be used in a variety of ways in the healthcare industry. The ledger technology helps healthcare researchers uncover genetic code by facilitating the secure transfer of patient medical records, managing the drug supply chain, and facilitating the safe transfer of patient medical records.
Benefits and drawbacks of blockchains in healthcare
The following are some of the major challenges with blockchain applications in healthcare:
- At all layers of the network infrastructure, security is paramount.
- All participants’ identities are verified and authenticated.
- Authorization patterns for access to electronic health records that are consistent
Although DLT can be used in a variety of healthcare settings, not all activity in healthcare is tied to transactions. However, because the data in public blockchains is readily available, they cannot be utilized to store private information such as identifiable health data. As a result of this transparency, providers are required to examine privacy problems in order to ensure that protected health information is maintained (PHI).
Second, while blockchain technology is vulnerable to some assaults, it also provides built-in defense against others. The blockchain’s code makes it vulnerable to zero-day attacks, vulnerabilities, and social engineering. As a result, data protection must be given considerable attention, particularly in the healthcare industry.
Because blockchain data is unchangeable, it should not be utilized indiscriminately in healthcare. Large files, particularly ones that change frequently, may be excluded. All personally identifiable information should be kept off the chain.
“Patient privacy is now a standard when considering processing any type of PHI,” say DLT experts, “with new rules on the increase, such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), in conjunction with standards that have been around for more than a decade, such as HIPAA.
The benefits of using blockchains over conventional methods of healthcare database management systems include decentralized management, unalterable databases, data validity, detectable data, rigorous data, and availability of data to any authorized user while preserving it out of the fingers of unauthorized users through encryption that is completely reliant on a patient’s private key.
Blockchain Healthcare Applications
In healthcare, blockchains can be used in five different ways:
- Managing data from electronic medical records (EMRs)
- Data security in the healthcare field
- Data management for personal health records
- At the point of service, genomics is managed.
- Data management for electronic health records
Below are some of the specific applications of Blockchain in healthcare:
1. Research
Currently, computerized health records only allow for the continuous updating and exchange of medical data on a specific patient inside a single organisation or network of organisations. This may be expanded if the data was organised in such a way that the blockchain’s top layer only contains data that was not PHI or personally identifiable information (PII).
This would provide scientists and other institutions with access to a vast amount of data, including numbers of patients, possibly hundreds of thousands. The accessibility of such huge amounts of data would’ve been extremely beneficial to medical trials, safety occasions and adverse reactions trying to report and identity, and global health reporting.
2. Patient transfers between providers are seamless
Individual consumers might utilize the same data on the blockchain to easily unlock and distribute their health information with other doctors or organizations to use a shareable secret key. This could help with health information technology (HIT) communication and cooperation among various users.
Patient care that is more efficient, less expensive, and more effective.
Blockchain offers the ability to create a single system for securely storing and retrieving medical files by authorised users in a timely and secure way. By avoiding misunderstanding among different healthcare staff associated with caring for the same patient, many mistakes can be prevented, faster diagnosis and interventions can be performed, and care can be tailored to each patient.
3. Electronic health records that are interoperable
The blockchain may offer a single transaction layer where organisations may upload and share data via one safe channel by retaining a specific set of standardised data on the chain, along with private encrypted connections to independently stored data such as radiography or other images.
Smart contracts and standardised authorisation standards can substantially assist in providing seamless communication.
4. Data protection
There were roughly 176 million information breaches affecting medical records between 2009 and 2017. The secure qualities of the blockchain can considerably enhance the safety of health information. Each individual has a public identifier or key as well as a private key that can only be used when and for the amount of time specified.
In addition, the obligation to target each user individually in order to obtain important information would put a stop to hacking. As a result, blockchain technologies can supply medical data with an immutable audit trail.
5. Remote monitoring and mobile health apps
Mobile health programs are now becoming extremely relevant as technology advances. EMRs were revealed to be maintained securely on a blockchain network, and the data could be swiftly shared to medical staff, as well as used for self-monitoring and residential care.
This area is especially vulnerable to malware, specifically root dirty tricks that enable a hacker to acquire the patient’s cryptographic keys.
6. Medical supplies are being tracked and secured
Block chain technology, with its total transparency, can help protect and identify the delivery of healthcare services.. It could even keep track of the labour costs and carbon emissions related with these commodities’ manufacture.
7. Claims for health insurance
The block chain technology is well-suited to claim processing due to its ability to disclose medical occurrences as they took place even without potential of later manipulating the data for fraud purposes.
Diseases and outbreaks are being tracked.
Blockchain’s unique properties can help with real-time disease reportage and disease trend enquiry, which can help determine the disease’s source and transmitting factors.
8. Keeping genomics safe
Genomic data theft has become a big issue as more companies deliver DNA sequencing to the individual. Blockchain can help to eliminate this, and it could even be used to start an online marketplaces where researchers can buy genomic information for research purposes. This might encourage safe selling while removing the need for expensive intermediaries.
Blockchain technology in healthcare is still in its adolescence. Ethereum and Hyperledger Fabric are two examples of blockchain technology platforms that are now in use on a modest scale.
Blockchain services can be used to enhance the administration of healthcare data with increased blockchain security and mechanisms that promote synchronised transactions.
Impact of Blockchain on Medical Industry
Because blockchain is open and secure, it can be applied to the healthcare profession in a variety of ways, resulting in dramatically reduced costs and new ways for clients to access healthcare.
Future Proofing technologies, when combined with the cumulative nature of data and innovation, can be used to foster an era of growth and innovation.
Pioneering companies already are laying the groundwork for a blockchain revolution. Here’s how they’re reshaping the medical field.
1. Chronicled
The inability to securely share patient data has had a significant impact on the medical industry. Blockchain, on the other hand, will enable finely customizable openness while upholding only the highest security standards to ensure true interoperability. As a result, health information systems will be able to collaborate within and across organisational boundaries to advance the effective delivery of healthcare to individuals and communities.
2. Curisium
Curisium used blockchain technology to build a platform for rebate negotiation and contract management. Everyone in healthcare is aware of how complicated contract negotiations can become, not only in terms of discussion but also in terms of how time-consuming and inconvenient they can be.
Curisium enables providers and payers to participate in innovative contracting arrangements that are secure and efficient by developing a system that streamlines this procedure.
3. Ever
Ever was built from the floor up with the goal of fostering innovation and has an EHR solution that can be quickly and easily applied even to existing medical centers. The Ever Network connects more than 170 hospitals and 5 million patients. It offers an integrated but removable suite of software that includes secure and trust – free information exchange, huge data collection and data analysis, and machine-learning/artificial intellectual ability tools and characteristics.
4. Patientory
Blockchain networks enable organisations to establish both transparency and privacy, assisting in the concealment of sensitive patient data while allowing access and sharing when necessary. Attackers would need vast computational capabilities to even attempt to attack a blockchain-powered network, restricting the frequency, possibility, and effectiveness of such attacks.
Patientory capitalises on this advantage by developing patient-centric applications and services, giving the company greater control over their well-being. With their slew of innovative solutions, they can provide up-to-date patient histories and data, global epidemic monitoring and reporting, encrypted communications with verified health workers, and much more.
5. Bright Future Fueled by Innovation
The foundation of growth and modularity provided by blockchain technology is one of the most exciting aspects of it. Despite the fact that its initial implementation will face the same constraints as today’s technology, blockchain’s open nature will support and encourage industry-wide progress for years to come.
Bottom Line
While many exciting and innovative blockchain solutions have emerged from forward-thinking companies around the world, this is only the beginning. Join the transformation today and help push the boundaries of medical technology, all while laying the groundwork for a data-driven future that will drive medical breakthroughs on a never-before-seen scale.