One of the surprising industries to benefit from blockchain technology is healthcare. It is one industry that is actually in need of critical information. However, the information that it uses is currently in a rather scattered state.
Healthcare workers like doctors, therapists, nurses, and the like have to grapple with multiple technologies and information sources. At times the data that they need to provide optimum services may not be immediately accessible. In worst case scenarios they are denied access to it when they need it the most.
Even today’s health experts often comment that the information infrastructure that they are using is truly inadequate. What they have right now just can’t handle the amount of information exchange that goes on within the industry.
Blockchain technology does not necessarily change the information system that is used in healthcare. But it provides all the necessary tweaks in the system to allow it to keep up with the industry’s demands.
Blockchain technology in healthcare is still currently at the “spark the innovation” stage as it were. It’s just at the very early stages and although there was a lot of hype about its applications, there is reason to hope that it can help to revolutionize how data is handled in the industry.
Its Impact in the Healthcare Industry
One of the most revolutionary impacts of blockchain technology when applied to healthcare is that there is no central administrator. Remember that even though a database is a piece of software, it is very much a tangible thing.
It consists of data that can be copied, shared, and printed. In other words this data is stored in a physical location. For example, the patient data of a hospital can be stored in a hard drive that you can attach to a different computer system. And since it is housed in a data storage device, that data can get corrupted.
Now, with the help of blockchain technology, there is no need for a central administrator or centralized location for the data (e.g. a server). It can be stored in the cloud and replicated all over a peer to peer network.
The shared data will then be protected using cryptography. Since the information is in the cloud, all the users of that information have control and responsibility over the data and transactions that occur.
Now, one of the first things that some may complain about is the fact that patient information is shared across different nodes or computers. What about the patient’s privacy rights?
It is understood that the healthcare industry deals with confidential information. However, they need access to that information rather quickly. The faster the information can be transferred or obtained by a doctor, the faster he or she can act to save a life.
To address the patient privacy issue, blockchain technology can provide a way to streamline the information that is contained or recorded in the blocks of data. With the help of cryptologic keys, the patient information will be shared in a more secure way. That means only the doctors that need a particular patient’s information will have access to it. It’s not going to be a completely open record.
Providing this type of limitation adds a degree of security to a healthcare blockchain. It improves it scalability and supports data privacy.
Some have described blockchain technology as a rather disruptive type of technology when applied to healthcare. It’s going to stir up the hornet’s nest as it were. However, it will initiate an evolutionary journey for everyone involved and it needs to be implemented one phase at a time.
It will take time to convince healthcare industry leaders and patients in general. To date, not that many of the people involved agree to the possible benefits that blockchain technology can bring to healthcare. In fact, of the CIOs in the industry, less than 5% of them agree that blockchain can be a benefit to the industry. Less than 12% of patients agree that blockchain can change how patient information can be safely and securely handled.
Benefits to Healthcare Industry
The following are some of the biggest benefits that blockchain technology can provide to the healthcare industry:
1. Single Longitudinal Records
Single longitudinal records are better for compiling disease registries, episodes, treatments, ambulatory data, inpatient information, wearable data, lab results, and other patient information. All of that can be efficiently and sequentially stored in a blockchain. It can be used as a better way to trace a patient’s medical history thus allowing doctors to recommend and provide better and more efficient healthcare.
2. Claims Adjudication
Remember that blockchain technology works on a validation based information exchange. You can’t access data if you can’t validate your rights to the said data. Claims can also be verified with the same level of security.
Smart contracts add an automated system to validate any claims that can be made on the patient’s behalf. Since there are no intermediaries involved in a blockchain, there is very little human intervention involved.
This means there will only be a small chance to defraud certain parties or cause errors in the records when people transmit or edit information—in fact no editing of information can be performed once the records have been finalized.
3. Better Use of Master Indices for Patients
One of the classic problems with managing vast amounts of data and information is that records get duplicated and mismatched along the way. Apart from that, different hospitals and healthcare organizations have different schemas.
Each organization may have its own way of entering information into a database and they will also have a different way to manipulate that information. We’re not just talking about huge data stores like the ones for one hospital to the other for instance. The data format may even be different from one doctor to the other even though they both work for the same medical facility.
So how do you manage and compile this huge varied and complex data to make it into useful patient information? Blockchain technology works well with this sort of jumbled up information.
Remember that the entire data that will go into a blockchain will be hashed when entered into a ledger. It’s like a regular database where you have a data block and one identifier or primary key for that data. There will be multiple keys and multiple identifiers for each record in the information that will be compiled and they will be linked and indexed. So, for instance, you have more than one address for a particular patient, all of those addresses be used to identify the same patient and thereby allow doctors to trace that patient’s information.
4. Interoperability
With the help of blockchain technology, data storage and interoperability can be turned into a more reliable process. The blockchains that will be used for healthcare services can be standardized and then shared to authorized providers. This will speed up data reconciliation and eventually reduce costs.
With a secure system in place, clinical trials are made easier and more efficient, fraudulent acts are prevented, drug supply is better managed, and it helps improve a healthcare provider’s revenue cycle management.
5. Supply Chain Management
We have already mentioned how blockchain technology can improve the supply chain, so we will only touch on this briefly. Remember that hospitals and other healthcare facilities are also part of a supply chain.
A hospital, a clinic, or any other facility needs a more efficient way to monitor the supply and demand. It’s not just the supply of medicine or personal protective equipment that needs to be monitored. Record keeping tools, office supplies, cleaning and maintenance equipment, and others also need to be monitored and blockchain technology can help automate and identify bottlenecks and trouble points in the supply chain.
The biggest key to determine the actual impact of blockchain technology in the healthcare industry is not the host of benefits that have been highlighted above. But rather it is the willingness of major players in the industry to accept change in the infrastructures that they are using. Until then, any development will take time.
