“Blockchain” is a technology buzzword that has gotten popular over the last few years. Though we often hear the word, understanding the meaning and the functionality of blockchain in different industries is still oftentimes a mystery. Blockchain is up and coming in in fields such as banking as it provides an open, decentralized database for transactions. However, this quality can also be useful in the healthcare field.
What makes blockchain appealing for healthcare is that it is a “tamper proof public ledger” that would be ideal for proof of work. In healthcare/hospital setting, this technology can be used for digitizing medical records, consent management, and micropayments transactions. Using blockchain as a system for these processes will guarantee confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the information and records.
Blockchain will make it possible to have a central location for an in-depth analysis patient data including health history, socioeconomic status, demographics, and behavior while hiding personally identifiable information. Though this information is available today, there is not a location where all of it is stored together in a way where the information is available but patient identity is secured.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WG7D47tGb0
This is such a great application of blockchain technology! Often times this word is thrown around by people who don’t really understand what it means. I think this has caused people to think that you can use blockchain to do almost everything. While this of course isn’t the case, healthcare is a really great practical application. If any doctor would be able to access a patients records from their whole life, they would be able to offer more full and complete care.
One question I do have is in regards to privacy. With regulations such as HIPAA, I wonder if the public nature of a blockchain would become an issue. Since anyone can make changes or additions to the ledger, this could be raised as a concern.
Blockchain is revolutionizing the healthcare industry, especially in the pharmaceutical distribution industry. In my previous internship at AmerisourceBergen, I was tasked with researching how blockchain could benefit the company. I found out that it is a great source of tracking legal drugs and can effectively eliminate the black market for illegal drugs. Using blockchain technology, every single drug transported is accounted for and can not be tampered with, so it is an effective way to securely track drugs.