Digital healthcare trends are driven mainly by the requirement for better patient care, faster and much more accurate analysis, as well as on-demand use of medical data. The interest rate of innovation in digital healthcare started gaining momentum with artificial intelligence (AI), which is set to help accelerate because the industry turns to blockchain technology.
Blockchain technologies are being leveraged to rework the collaborative exchange of significant research and valuable healthcare data, therefore enabling key stakeholders, for example, clinical researchers, doctors, pharmacists, along with other healthcare providers to achieve secure, faster, simplified and reliable use of electronic medical information. The already includes a similar platform known as the information exchange (HIE). Many healthcare technology vendors — including my opportunity, clinical data, and image management cloud-based service — can integrate with HIE systems.
The emergence of 5G wireless systems and blockchain can help redefine and re-think digital healthcare.
The brand new generation of faster-than-ever mobile (wireless) communications technology, 5G, is nearby. Using its unparalleled bandwidth speed and strength, we’ve got the technology has been viewed as the ultimate goal of innovation, since it can help accommodate advances produced in AI, machine learning, neural systems and blockchain across various verticals, including healthcare. Because this new technology ecosystem emerges, blockchain promises significant enhancements in recording and managing patient records and claims data.
The financial services and banking sectors have previously experienced attractive benefits from blockchain. To put it in the disruptive technologies are an electronic ledger that stores permissioned blocks that contains immutable records of information that may be utilized and shared by approved people, using the guaranteed integrity from the purpose of data generation to begin use, without manual intervention.
At any given time when regulatory compliance has become very stringent within the wake of significant data breach occurrences, blockchain also offers the immense possibility to underpin a brand new system that effectively meets demanding guidelines inpatient and healthcare data protection.
Some key use-cases, when blockchain creates a substantial improvement in making digital healthcare more innovative and safer include:
- A brand new catalyst of industry wide interoperability. Presently, the HIE can serve as the intermediary that facilitates the peer-to-peer exchange of electronic health records (Electronic health record) among member participants. The machine also functions like a ledger that tracks what data was exchanged. However, the model has little incentive to provide except the truth that it’s a condition-designated body. With blockchain, people or medical industry participants possess the chance to profit from the distributed ledger to safely access and exchange electronic healthcare information without getting to handle a rather complicated system of brokered trust.
- Seamless access and exchange of knowledge with reduced transaction costs. Unlike the present central system that does not see significant volumes of transactions, therefore remaining costly, using blockchain would enable an apparent decrease in expenses, giving participating groups greater incentive for any sustainable business situation. Furthermore, with near-real-time processing of demands, a platform underpinned by blockchain would facilitate considerably faster, safer, and much more efficient transitions/exchanges of health records between related parties.
- It is overcoming the difficulties of the master-patient index with cryptography to improve data integrity and safer interoperability. One of the leading problems of interoperability lies in using what is called the master-patient index (MPI). It calls for linking the records and transactions of patients using their varied “identities” because they communicate with various healthcare providers along with other entities. The task is just increasingly complex and costly each day. This is why patient data integrity remains a vital concern, as it might become susceptible to risks, for example, data selling, data leakage, and fraudulent mismanagement.
To ease these limitations and risks, a blockchain-based approach could leverage cryptography to validate patient identity and strengthen data integrity, too. Blockchain records could be shared among licensed participants who can increase — although not delete or alter — the transaction logs. The blockchain ensures all of the transactions are encrypted and should be verified through the network. Additionally, it enables for presenting standardization in building an MPI-like list. For instance, rather than allowing multiple methods to input data, the blockchain causes it to be sure that every participant enters/adds data inside a specified way. Blockchain would thus provide much more compelling data security and integrity of records along with a highly standardized approach to maintain data.
- Accessibility to smart contracts that allow transactions without resorting to intermediaries and organizations. Our healthcare product is fraught with excess expenses, paperwork, and third-party intermediaries — which increase cost and complexity. The present centralized system accustomed to facilitate interoperability and transactions among participants also is affected by sporadic rules and permissions, which will make it hard for that member health organization to gain access to the best patient data at the proper time. Blockchain in healthcare today enables elevated trust among participating parties. By looking into making available smart contracts, we’ve got the technology to help people to exclusively depend on contracts that are instantly enforced when particular security the weather is met.
Furthermore, by empowering member health organizations like solve.care to purchase, sell and transfer value (e.g., medical claims data, cryptocurrency payments, IP, etc.) with no intermediary or perhaps a third-party just like a pharmacy benefit manager (PBM), blockchain would facilitate much-needed transparency between pharmacies, insurers, health payers, hospitals, physicians health plans and also the overall healthcare ecosystem generally.
There’s without a doubt in proclaiming that blockchain represents and promises an innovative way forward for healthcare and medicine. Because the technology embraces high-level file encryption and cryptography-driven security, all of the participants and users can be assured their sensitive healthcare information is continuously protected and protected from possible data risks or manipulation.
