The Blockchain technology, which was originally developed for the peer to peer transfer of funds, has found relevant applications in many industries, and healthcare is no exception. The features that Blockchain technology offers such as immutability, security, ability to track & trace transactions, transparency, etc. makes it a perfect use case for the healthcare industry. Let’s briefly discuss how Blockchain Application Development Technology can be implemented to streamline the various processes of the healthcare industry.
Predictive Analysis of Diseases
With the security compliance like HIPAA being adopted by developed economies, it has become an absolute necessity for healthcare organizations to protect their patient’s personal information and history of treatment which is possible with Blockchain technology. Its distributed ledger feature enables partner practitioners in the Blockchain to do a predictive analysis based on patient’s history of treatments.
The Blockchain system files and signs the data, with new signatures generated whenever the information is altered. Only hash values that indicate when files have been updated are stored on the Blockchain and not the whole data itself. Blockchain network keeps the records secure while leaving a clear trail of any alterations. A ‘Universal Patient Identifier’ (a smart contract) aggregates the data of a patient across multiple disparate systems without moving records to a centralized location, creating longitudinal data of the patient for Predictive Analysis.
Eliminating Counterfeit Drugs and Fake Devices
Pharmaceutical and medical device companies import many essential ingredients and devices/parts from other countries. It is very difficult to track & trace such products in a global supply chain. There is always a risk involved with original product getting replaced by a counterfeit/fake product because of lack of transparency and visibility. It is extremely important for a healthcare company to maintain the trust of their clients by offering the same standard/quality products every time.
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Blockchain can give assurance of the provenance of the quality standards of the ingredients. It can ensure that a medical device meets the required specification and that it has not been compromised during transportation. It can also generate real-time data to manage the inventories and enable healthcare providers to execute ‘re-calls’ which is impossible in the absence of the data.
Autonomous Claim Settlement for Health Policies
Even with many companies claiming cash-less settlement within few hours of filing claims, there is still a considerable amount of time lag and paperwork involved in the process. This leads to added cost for the insurance companies and unnecessary hassles for the patient. A Blockchain network can further enhance the speed of cashless settlement process by swiftly validating the authenticity of the claim.
Health Coins for Patient Compliance and Healthcare Marketplace
Insurance companies today reward their customers to keep a healthy lifestyle. The process can be made autonomous with the help of the Blockchain. With the information received from the IOT enabled health tracker, a Smart Contract can autonomously reward a patient with the pre-defined number of health coins. The customer can spend these health coins in a Blockchain-based healthcare marketplace having different stakeholders to pay for various healthcare services and products.
Conduct Transparent Clinical Trials
The clinical trials process lacks transparency. It is very difficult to authenticate the process and the findings published by clinical trials firms. Often the pharmaceutical companies try to influence these clinical trials firms to publish results in their favor.
The complete study protocol including the probable test outcomes and planned analysis can be saved in the form of a text file. These can be fed into the SHA256 algorithm. Secure Hash Algorithm is the cryptographic hash function that generates almost fixed size, unique 256-bit‘hash’. So, any change made in the data file would lead to a different set of a string of characters. This helps in ensuring that all the probable test outcomes have been accounted for and that the report is not missing any critical information.
In Summary
With the stringent regulation like HIPAA in place, ensuring that the patient’s data is stored and transferred securely is a necessity for the healthcare providers, and the Blockchain technology can handle this huge task impressively. No surprise, many projects are being developed that are utilizing Blockchain for achieving HIPAA compliance. Some Blockchain development companies are also working on building Blockchain-based healthcare marketplaces. Today, more than 25 Blockchain-based projects are being developed by various companies for the healthcare industry.
Enuke Software
Enuke Software is a leading software and web development company that provides customized software development and web-based solutions around the globe. Their aim is to improve efficiency for companies by providing professional consultancy, optimized decisions, Blockchain services and high-quality software systems. Currently, they have successfully developed and deployed 100+ healthcare applications including a Medicine Delivery Application which is revolutionizing the online pharmacy business by delivering 100% genuine medicine and other healthcare products to your doorsteps.
