Blockchain in Healthcare

Introduction

Blockchain technology has gained prominence mostly in the area of finance, and is mostly renowned as the technology underpinning cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. However, the reality is that blockchain technology could transform many more industries, including the health sector. Blockchain technology is a distributed public ledger which can record and verify a high volume of digital transactions in a secure manner. At its core, blockchain is a cryptographically secure, distributed ledger that enables a safe transfer of data between parties.

What makes blockchain such an exciting technology is that data stored in it is made secure and immutable using cryptography. This makes the data stored within it immutable. The tamper-proof characteristic of blockchain technology and the fact that any information entered into the blockchain can be easily validated helps to create trust between group participants. This is one reason why blockchain technology is easily adaptable for use in the healthcare industry, where patient data must be kept confidentially secure, yet easily accessible to healthcare providers so that healthcare can be delivered very efficiently.

Blockchain technology also helps address issues of efficiency to improve the overall healthcare experience. This article looks deeply into how blockchain technology could potentially impact the healthcare industry.

Blockchain, Smart Contracts, and Healthcare

In healthcare, blockchain is fast becoming reputable as an innovation that is capable of solving some of the industry’s age-old issues which have led to wasteful spending and higher costs for patients, providers, and insurers alike. The technology’s promise lies mainly in its ability to place the patient at the center of the health care ecosystem and boost the privacy, security, and interoperability of health records.

For years, experts have been concerned about the possibility that anyone with access to login credentials could potentially view the centralized record system used in the sector. As a result, there has been a constant clamor for a technology that could securely store clinical data such that it is accessible only to the right people when they need it.

Healthcare facilities often take a cautious approach to information sharing due to the inability to share data across platforms securely. Consequently, blockchain could potentially boost collaboration between providers, which could, in turn, increase the chances of accurate diagnoses, effective treatments, as well as generally empower healthcare systems to deliver cost-effective care.

This is as the adoption of blockchain technology could allow healthcare providers, patients, and other players to share access to their networks without worrying about the possibility of compromising the security and integrity of their data.

As mentioned, the current medical system of record keeping is problematic because centrally-operated databases give single party access to all client data. Decentralizing the process by leveraging blockchain technology will help ensure stronger data privacy for counterparties. This is because blockchain technology provides a single version of data to all involved parties, preventing one party from modifying data.

Blockchain could also play a significant role in the way transactions are conducted in the healthcare industry at large. The sector is grappled with red tape, high cost, and inefficient methods of verifying and handling transactions. The ability of blockchain to enable verification and handling of a transaction at a faster rate and much significant cost could make it the favored method for conducting transactions by industry players. The low cost of transaction is made possible by the fact that blockchain enables parties to share secure data without an intermediary.

Blockchain also makes it possible for health organizations to simplify and automate processes. Things such as payout verification, handling, and authorization could be done without using predefined parameters. Add to this the benefit of secured customer data and you’ll see just why blockchain holds so much potential in healthcare.

Currently, one company that is using blockchain technology to address inefficiencies is insurance provider MetLife. The firm has begun testing the first automated insurance solution in the world. MetLife leverages blockchain technology to provide pregnant women with financial protection in case of gestational diabetes, without them having to make a claim. The innovation, which is being trialed in MetLife’s Singapore-based innovation center, LumenLab, uses the smart contract system to allow experts to verify a patient’s condition by their OB-GYN. Once the patient’s condition is confirmed, the system activates an automatic payout.

This demonstrates how blockchain can help streamline cross-firm interactions, allowing medical practitioners to interact and collaborate with their counterparties in the insurance market. This way, blockchain also helps to reduce expense ratios for all parties. It also improves clinical and user data security as well as transparency in the system. For added security, health institutions can secure data by utilizing tools such as keys, digital wallets, and signatures.

Combining these tools with blockchain gives users the ability to maintain more control over their data, invalidate access, as well as make sure that only authorized persons can access information.

Another issue facing the healthcare sector is the problem of identifying patients due to the unavailability of a universally recognized patient identifier. Issues as this can lead to errors in patient care and increase the possibility of the patient getting harmed. For better medical care delivery, it is important that organizations accurately match the correct individual to their health data.

The blockchain can potentially solve this problem through hash ID, which will be a patient’s unique identifier. Through hashing, firms can create unique IDs for a patient and secure the privacy of the patient by a cryptographic hash function. A cryptographic hash function is a complex formula that takes any string of data and turns it into a unique 64-digit series of output, which is then used as a signature for a particular entity.

Conclusion

Blockchain technology can help ensure the security of digital records, lower the cost of private healthcare, and reduce the time it takes to process claims, among other things.

As demonstrated by the trials by MetLife, the use of blockchain-powered smart contracts can potentially remove the middleman in transactions and allow for a more secure, efficient and cost-effective outcome for both patients and healthcare providers.

This shows that blockchain can improve how clinical data is handled and enhance the healthcare industry in myriads of ways. In light of these benefits, now could be the time for healthcare facilities to jump on the blockchain train.