What Role Can Blockchain Play In Revolutionizing Healthcare?

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Authored by: Kimberly Shaw

Healthcare is an essential component of our lives and is constantly changing to meet the demands of both healthcare professionals and patients. Recently, there has been a lot of buzz about Blockchain technology in the healthcare field and its potential to transform the healthcare field.

Blockchain is becoming utilized as a method to share information among groups in a secure manner. Blockchain is used to audit the validity of doctors' licenses, monitor and identify drugs and understand patients' health outcomes.

Research suggests about 55% percent of healthcare applications will use blockchain technology by 2025. In 2040, the world's spending on healthcare will be 18 trillion dollars.

Blockchain allows patients to consent to share their information and ensures that data transfer is secure and impervious to tampering. Smart contracts provide anonymity for patients, make research findings available with no biases regarding human data collection and analysis, and cut down the rising costs of clinical studies.

Applications of Blockchain in Healthcare

Here's how blockchain technology can transform different elements of the healthcare system to make it a safer and more efficient healthcare system.

1. Interoperability is a goal in the healthcare system for EMR, EHR, and PHR information

Blockchain could assist health professionals in creating the next-generation system that combines health information with decentralized, waterproof, and distributed characteristics. According to IDC, Blockchain's interoperability can help to support data exchange. Acting as an alternative to the current healthcare information exchanges (HIEs) and, more specifically, it could be a system for transmitting real-time, secure patient data for healthcare providers, including insurance companies, pharmacies, and clinical scientists.

2. Securing the Supply Chain

Blockchain technology could be utilized to transform supply chains within the healthcare industry. Transactions on the blockchain are stored in a chronological, verified, permanent, and inert ledger that could help supply chain suppliers in healthcare, such as pharmaceutical and MedTech firms.
When a supplier enters details into a ledger of blockchain and the information is accessed by all parties involved, who can verify and detect fake materials, malfunctions, or environmental malfunctions, thus demonstrating a non-tamper-proof cold chain.

3. Giving Patients Control Of Their Data

Blockchain technology will allow patients to manage their information. Technology has enabled the storage of nearly all medical information of a patient. Every transaction can be recorded on a blockchain, which allows patients to have an audit trail complete of each doctor and payer, provider medical device or health information exchange (HIE), or any other person or entity with access to their information.

Access to this data will also provide patients with diagnostic and treatment advantages. This will assist with data security when patients accidentally share or gain access to, or access to, more data than was intended or requested.

4. Point-Of-Care Genomics Management

The tests at the point of care are described as "medical diagnostic tests" carried out at or near the care location for patients. They aid in the clinical decision-making process by providing results in real-time (usually within shorter than 90 minutes). Most POC genetic devices give only a few results that indicate whether or not there is a specific bacteria or an antimicrobial-resistant gene. NorthShore University HealthSystem has built an online platform known as Flype that provides genomic data to health professionals directly at the point of treatment. It's an information technology software that allows a hospital to securely accept data from many sources, on orders to various destinations, and conduct secondary analysis and annotation on genomic data.

5. Smart Contracts And Automated Manual Processes

As we have mentioned in the article, interoperability is one of the biggest problems the healthcare industry has to face. And the outdated repository for healthcare is an essential aspect of that. Blockchain technology could help solve this issue through smart contracts, which are programs that auto-execute according to specific rules.
For example, when the patient has completed the paperwork at a clinic run by a physician, after which it is a few months later, and he visits another physician or specialist, Smart contracts could facilitate the transfer of data from patients according to pre-determined rules the patient can manage.

6. Accelerating R&D

The field of research and development (R&D) is among the principal disciplines within healthcare. Blockchain technology could assist in streamlining R&D processes, making them more efficient and helping boost the pace of innovation. Here's how it can aid in all this:

· Blockchain technology can facilitate verifying, coordinating, and maintaining compliance with trial protocols used by pharmaceutical and medical technology businesses.
· It could ease the process of recruiting volunteers and patients. Patients or volunteers can self-identify themselves and sign up for trials, and the system will automatically determine their eligibility and confirm their status.
· The process of gathering data for researchers can be made simple and error-free. Blockchain technology can keep all information in a consistent, easily accessible infrastructure that allows patients to give access to other people through sharing private and public keys. The clinical information collected will be trustworthy and authenticated.

Conclusion

The healthcare industry is naturally concerned about any disruption to the current system due to how crucial its function is to society. Blockchain technology will likely play a significant role in how things happen due to its distinct capabilities and benefits. Nothing alternative can provide the security and flexibility that a decentralized system can.

This article was printed from TradingSig.com

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