Blockchain is a revolutionary technology that can bring the next phase of transformation in the healthcare industry. In this blog, let's look at the current trends in blockchain healthcare and some of the amazing future possibilities it holds.
Blockchain solutions have the potential to revolutionize healthcare by making the system more efficient and transparent. By utilizing Blockchain for tasks such as managing Electronic Health Records, pharmaceutical supply chains, smart contracts for payment distribution, and health insurance reimbursement, we can streamline many processes and make a real difference in how healthcare is delivered.
Here are Some of the Ways How Blockchain will Change Healthcare as we Know it ⬇️
🔶 Record Management
Electronic Health Records are a disruption of the health industry. Your medical records become larger and more complex as you grow. And since every hospital and every doctor’s office has a different way of storing them, it’s not always easy for healthcare providers to obtain them, especially when this data needs to be accessed in an emergency. According to Forbes, poor data integration is leading to a loss of about 300 billion each year.
Blockchain technology has the potential to solve a lot of record-keeping problems. By digitizing records and storing them on a blockchain, we can achieve the efficiency we need. And there are already companies developing the technology to solve these problems.
The goal of this is to give patients more control over their medical history. Blockchain will act as one-stop access for all the records and be more convenient for both patients and physicians. The digitization will also allow for multiple doctors to work on a case simultaneously from different locations.
The medical data of an individual is not only crucial but also sensitive. Smart contracts will allow patients to set parameters for the access of certain sensitive records. The data is stored transparently, which makes it easy to validate. And since the data stored on a blockchain is not editable, falsifying data is not possible. Blockchain will make the system simple, efficient, and secure. Patientary and Medicalchain are prime examples of blockchain-based data storing and management platforms.
Patientary is a platform that allows patients to securely transfer their medical records from one provider to another. They work with existing providers to act as a bridge between them and the hospitals.
Medicalchain is helping health organizations store patient records on a blockchain and maintain a single version of the truth.
Blockchain solutions are providing a new way of sharing, analyzing, and verifying information. It would mean having crucial information easily accessible in emergencies.
🔶 Supply Chain Management
The pharmaceutical industry has some of the highest standards when it comes to product safety, security, and stability. This is because people's lives and health rely on the products that they produce. To maintain these high standards, the industry has to invest a lot of time and resources into making sure that its products are of the highest quality.
Blockchain-based logistic solutions are being deployed to trace the products at the package level. With Blockchain, supply chain management can be monitored securely and transparently.
This will greatly reduce time delays, and it will be a lot easier to identify human mistakes. Tracking bottlenecks in the supply chain will be possible, which in turn can be used to make the process more efficient. It can also be used to monitor costs, labor, and even waste in emissions at every point in the supply chain.
Annual losses that pharma companies owe because of the counterfeit drug market are around 200 billion dollars every year. Smart contracts can be used to help automate ordering life-saving drugs from the pharmacy as soon as the stock becomes low. Also, this technology can be used to trace a drug's authenticity and origin when it's bought from a pharmacy. This combats the counterfeit drug market.
Chronicled, Blockpharma, and Modum are just a few of the companies that see potential in using blockchain technology to streamline logistics. These companies are working on developing innovative solutions that could make supply chains more efficient and reduce waste.
Modum is a company that specializes in compliance with EU laws about medicinal product temperatures. The company has developed a sensor that records conditions while products are in transit and saves the data on the Blockchain.
LedgerDomain's credentialing technology can be used to drive mobile and web applications that help deliver medications to patients in real time. This includes inventory management, verification, and master data management.
🔶 Research
One of the most pressing issues for researchers today is the lack of easily accessible datasets. To begin research, a large dataset is required. And once that dataset has been procured, it then needs to be sorted and stored in an organized manner. This process is often inefficient and time-consuming, due in large part to the reliance on manual labor to manage the dataset.
Smart contracts and Blockchain can be used to help researchers collect and categorize data from patients who have consented to participate. This data can then be grouped to form a large dataset that can be used for research purposes.
Encrypgen and Nebula are two companies that are using the Blockchain to create a new market that is decentralized and secure. They bet that in the future, opportunities around personal genome sequencing will create a data market worth billions of dollars.
Startups like Health Verity are changing the game when it comes to patient data. Health Verity provides pharmaceuticals and hospitals with the ability to license and integrate patient data from a variety of sources. This creates the optimal patient dataset for distributed health. The patient dataset can then be used for research purposes. This is a huge step forward for the medical community and will help to improve the quality of care for patients all over the world.
These are a few companies that believe that Blockchain can help to improve healthcare operations and make them more efficient.
🎯 The Vision for the Future
Fully automating transactions in the health industry is the future. This use case focuses on streamlining operations for all health industry operators, including doctors, insurers, pharmacies, and patients.
Blockchain is the key technology that has the potential to develop this. Smart contracts can be used to automate tasks of relevant records sharing between doctors and insurers. Health insurance claims can be automated.
Doctors will soon be able to share medical records in real-time, thanks to the power of Blockchain technology. With smart contracts, payments can be automated, and patients can sell their medical data to research institutes directly.
These institutes may buy this data without any middleman and store it on a Blockchain for added security. Plus, all of this can be done in a transparent and secure environment.
Mindbowser has a lot of experience in the industry, and we were even involved in the building of ProofPilot. This company has a platform that allows researchers to launch their clinical studies. This company has raised $2 million in funding.
Conclusion
A few decades ago, new technology came along and revolutionized healthcare by making it easier to share information and interact. It was "The Internet". It paved the way for doctors to break down barriers and access information from different parts of the world. Research institutes were able to collect data in a fast, simple, and efficient manner.
Now, in this next phase of the revolution, Blockchain technology will make that same sharing of information and interactions secure, reliable, and transparent.
The healthcare industry is looking to Blockchain to help solve many of its challenges. With the transparency, immutability, security, and reduced transaction time and cost that blockchain offers, the healthcare industry is looking to make its system more robust.
Frequently Asked Questions
- How blockchain can change the healthcare industry?
Blockchain has the potential to revolutionize healthcare by creating a secure, transparent system for storing and sharing patient data, streamlining workflows, and preventing fraud. This can lead to improved care coordination, increased patient control over their information, a more efficient supply chain for drugs and devices, and reduced administrative costs.
- What is the use of blockchain in health IT and health related research?
Blockchain in health IT and research offers secure, transparent data sharing, allowing patients to control access while facilitating seamless collaboration between providers and researchers. This streamlines workflows improves research efficiency, enhances supply chain tracking, and automates tasks like insurance processing, ultimately leading to a more secure and efficient healthcare ecosystem.
- What is the future of blockchain in healthcare?
The future of blockchain in healthcare is bright, potentially revolutionizing the industry. Widespread adoption could lead to a secure, patient-centric ecosystem where medical records are seamlessly shared between providers, research becomes more efficient, supply chains are transparent and secure, and administrative tasks are automated, ultimately leading to improved care coordination, cost reduction, and patient empowerment.
Pravin Uttarwar , CTO Mindbowser
Pravin has 16+ years of experience in the tech industry. A high-energy individual who loves to use out-of-the-box thinking to solve problems. He not only brings technical expertise to the table but also wears an entrepreneurial hat – benefiting any project with cost savings and adding more value to business strategy.
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