There are thousands of potential use cases for blockchain technology, with more being thought up every day. One of the industries that has the most to gain from implementing blockchain tech is healthcare. With the right uses, patients, healthcare providers, and others in the industry can benefit.
One of the biggest advantages of blockchain tech for healthcare is the ability to establish trust. The distributed ledger is immutable, and thanks to cryptography, there is no need to trust a third party. This trust is a key part of many of the other ways that blockchain tech can change healthcare for the better, including those outlined below.
The current healthcare industry has many issues related to patient data, particularly storage and sharing in a way that protects privacy. When used properly, patient data could be stored on the blockchain, appearing in all nodes of a given blockchain platform. This means that any authorized hospital or doctor, or even insurance company, could access relevant medical records. There would be no need to fax forms back and forth or wait for giant packets of medical history to arrive. Patients would not have to waste time filling out extensive forms when they switch to a new doctor. Instead, they would just give the practice permission to access their records and be set.
Not only can the blockchain make it easy to share data, but it can make it easy to keep it private as well. The use of private blockchains can ensure patients are in control of their records. It can also mitigate the risk of people using the blockchain’s public ledger to discover confidential information about another person.
That ability to share patient data and information connects to the next use: the ability to make informed decisions quickly. Since all parties can easily access information regarding a patient and share test results, etc., everyone is informed. There is no need to make a rash decision about a course of treatment in an emergency without the patient’s records available; they will always be accessible.
Even billing departments can benefit from the ability to make informed decisions. Hospitals will be able to better evaluate where the bill for treatment gets sent. Losses can be prevented, as can redundancies, by including a platform with patient data, procedure history, and various insurance claims.
The blockchain can also be used to help prevent contamination to or counterfeit drugs. This is a serious problem in many areas of the world, and it can put patients at risk, particularly in developing countries. The blockchain can be used to track the movement of prescription drugs from their manufacturer all the way to the patient, ensuring they have not been tampered with or replaced.
There is still a great deal of progress yet to be made regarding the blockchain’s applications for healthcare. Far-reaching actions, such as putting patient data on the blockchain, cannot be implemented without universal support from healthcare providers and patients. Developers also need to work out how to best put the above potential use cases to use in the real world.