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Explore how blockchain secures health data, streamlines processes, and shapes the future of healthcare.
Deb Mukhuty
As healthcare data faces challenges, blockchain emerges as a transformative solution. Delve into its secure, decentralized nature and potential to revolutionize patient-centric treatment, all while addressing industry-wide challenges.
Due to its enormous potential, big data has become a hot issue during the last two decades. Various public and private sector industries create, store, and analyze big data to improve their services. In the healthcare industry, big data sources include hospital records, patient medical records, medical examination findings, and Internet of Things devices. Biomedical research also produces considerable big data relevant to public healthcare. It must be properly managed and analyzed to extract relevant information from this data. According to Statista, over 55% of healthcare apps will use blockchain for commercial implementation by 2025.
Health data has transitioned from paper-based tracking to computerized information during the last four decades. Even today, many forms of medical data have yet to be digitized or incorporated into Health Data Management systems.
Fragmented data: Health data can be structured in spreadsheets or databases, pictures or video files, digital papers, scanned paper documents, or specialized formats such as the DICOM format for MRI scans. Healthcare providers, public health organizations, insurance companies, pharmacies, and patients frequently duplicate data, gather it many times and store it in various formats. There are many reliable sources of information about patient well-being.
Changes in data: Health data and patient and physician identities, professions, locations, and conditions are always changing. Over time, patients undergo multiple tests and get different therapies, and the treatments and medications evolve. New forms of medical treatment, such as telemedicine models, generate new forms of data.
Regulations and compliance: Health data is sensitive and must comply with government laws like the US Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). Data discovery issues and poor data quality make it considerably more challenging to undertake audits and meet regulatory compliance while limiting the range of data healthcare practitioners may utilize to help patients.
Source: ResearchGate
Blockchain technology is known to provide organizational benefits.
Keeping patient info safe: Blockchain helps in keeping patient information secure. It ensures that data is shared safely among different parts of the healthcare system. Blockchain can facilitate the secure sharing of patient information with healthcare groups. The decentralized feature of blockchain ensures that data is securely and efficiently shared across different entities within the healthcare ecosystem.
Smooth sharing of health info: Blockchain makes it easier for different healthcare companies to share health information. This way, important data moves around more smoothly. For example, a study found that blockchain enables the accurate and safe interchange of health information connected to medical imaging over the whole blockchain network.
Easier management of clinical trials: Using blockchain makes managing clinical trials simpler. It meets the security needs of handling trial information, keeping it safe and confidential. Blockchain technology has also benefited firms by making clinical trial management easier, which is required for drug testing. Specifically, studies revealed that using private blockchain can comfortably meet the security requirements that must be addressed in clinical trial management. s.
Improving health insurance: Blockchain's unchangeable nature has helped improve health insurance. It ensures that health insurance records are secure, and having copies on different devices ensures they're always available. Moreover, the blockchain technology has non-clinical advantages, such as handling health insurance. Blockchain's immutability is the most crucial component that has helped the medical insurance sector advance.
Efficient health insurance contracts: Healthcare businesses can use blockchain contracts to track how much of a certain thing is needed and when. This helps monitor transactions, check if the contract is successful, and find any delays. It makes the whole process more efficient and clear. Healthcare businesses can benefit from using blockchain-based contracts to track supply-demand cycles throughout their whole lifecycle. This includes monitoring how transactions are proceeding, whether the contract is successful and whether there are any delays.
Here are examples of successful implementations of blockchain in healthcare:
Safe exchange of patient data: Healthcare providers can safely share patient data because of blockchain technology. To improve security and privacy, Estonia, for example, developed a blockchain-based system that gives patients authority over their medical records and the ability to select who can access their data.
Drug authenticity and traceability: Blockchain is utilized in the pharmaceutical business for medicine identification and traceability. Walmart and IBM worked together on a project that tracks food and medication from suppliers to retailers using blockchain technology, guaranteeing the safety and authenticity of pharmaceutical goods.
Management of clinical trials: Clinical trial administration has been successfully streamlined via the blockchain-based platform Mediledger. It assists in monitoring and overseeing a clinical trial's lifespan, guaranteeing openness, data integrity, and regulatory compliance.
Supply chain management in healthcare: Blockchain firm Chronicled specializes in blockchain applications for supply chain management in the healthcare industry. It helps prevent counterfeit pharmaceuticals, guarantees the quality of medical items, and lowers the risk of fraud by offering end-to-end supply chain visibility.
Source: ScienceDirect
The healthcare industry faces several issues since blockchain is a relatively new technology.
Not every user is expected to have high-end hardware and software. Furthermore, a large number of consumers are not familiar with the newest technologies. Numerous elderly individuals, for instance, do not use laptops or computers. Although not found in all laptops, GPUs are necessary for bitcoin mining. It's a major blockchain challenge.
People need to know about the newest technological advancements. Promoting this cutting-edge technology should be a priority for the media. Also, businesses should lower the cost of their products.
Physicians and many users favor printed records. They would rather maintain the medical records in a filing system. Not all pharmacies are completely paperless. Most pharmacies use prescriptions to keep track of their inventory. Patients also retain the paperwork for their convenience. Thus, adjusting to a completely paperless blockchain network is difficult.
Doctors should use small blockchains to become accustomed to the newest technology. Make an effort to utilize as few papers as possible. They can use paper for records of surgery and X-ray plates. However, because blockchains make storing prescription drugs and other file records easier, the health sector must embrace them.
Blockchain remains a pricey technology. Mining requires expensive technology and software. It requires costly GPUs to mine cryptocurrency. To mine, each block requires electricity. However, the incentives for miners are inadequate. Thus, this technology is extremely expensive. Blockchain enterprises should focus on cost reductions as technology advances.
Even though blockchain technology is extremely safe and does not involve any third parties, numerous attacks, such as the Sybil and 51% attacks, have become a serious issue. To steal money, a lot of hackers target users' wallets. By mining pointless blocks and boosting network traffic, many hackers hope to increase their incentives.
The hospitals should authenticate each person with a unique ID to ensure no security risks. Using private blockchains will allow the network administrator to validate each user.
The majority of healthcare systems are dispersed. Numerous hospitals have multiple locations. Thus, keeping up with a blockchain is an extremely demanding undertaking. It would be impossible to use blockchain technology without a streamlined approach to retain all medical records in one place. For example, A person goes to hospital 'A' in one place. He might go to Hospital "A" somewhere else the next time. For two distinct places, there are two blockchains. Therefore, getting access to the earlier medical records will be difficult.
Hospitals should implement blockchain in certain areas to identify and address issues appropriately. The networks ought to be dispersed, and every hospital should keep a sizable blockchain to store data and enable them to access medical records as needed.
Because of its decentralized, unchanging, and transparent nature, blockchain can transform healthcare by providing safe data management, interoperability, and patient-centric treatment. The system has numerous applications, including enhancing supply chain management, preventing fraud, and handling clinical trials and medical data. The assessment of increasing efficacy and efficiency has shown significant progress, including better data protection, simpler procedures, and potential cost savings in healthcare operations. However, challenges such as interoperability, regulatory issues, scalability, and standards must be addressed before blockchain's full promise can be realized.
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FAQs:
How does blockchain secure health data?
Blockchain ensures secure, decentralized sharing of patient information, reducing data vulnerabilities.
Can blockchain address interoperability challenges in healthcare?
Yes, blockchain enhances interoperability by creating a standardized, secure platform for data exchange.
Why is cost reduction a challenge for blockchain in healthcare?
Blockchain technology remains costly due to mining expenses, highlighting the need for ongoing cost-reduction efforts.
How can hospitals overcome the challenge of dispersed healthcare systems with blockchain?
Hospitals can implement blockchain selectively, focusing on specific areas to streamline data storage and access and adapting to dispersed networks.
What role does blockchain play in clinical trial management?
As seen in platforms like Mediledger, blockchain streamlines clinical trial administration, ensuring transparency, data integrity, and regulatory compliance.
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