In the rapidly evolving world of healthcare, decentralization, and blockchain technology are emerging as potent forces of transformation. These innovations promise to address some of the most pressing challenges in healthcare, from enhancing data security to streamlining patient-centric care. In this Cryptopolitan guide, we dive into the seven pioneering healthcare decentralized projects, explore the most significant use cases of blockchain in healthcare, and discuss the key challenges.
Patientory
Patientory is pioneering the use of blockchain technology for health information management. The company’s solution enables secure, blockchain-based storage of health data, empowering individuals to manage their health records effectively. In addition, by facilitating seamless and secure data exchange between patients, doctors, and healthcare organizations, Patientory fosters a more integrated, patient-centric healthcare ecosystem.
Encrypgen
Encrypgen leverages blockchain technology to transform the way genomic data is managed and shared. The company’s platform, Gene-Chain, provides a secure marketplace for individuals and researchers to share genomic data. This empowers individuals with control over their genomic data and catalyzes research by facilitating access to diverse genomic datasets.
SOLVE.CARE
SOLVE.CARE stands out as a global healthcare blockchain technology company aiming to redefine care coordination, improve access to care, reduce benefit administration costs, and fight healthcare fraud. Through their decentralized platform, SOLVE.CARE enables the patient, healthcare providers, and insurance companies to interact in a straightforward and secure manner.
BURSTIQ
BurstIQ is a health-focused blockchain platform that aims to create a secure, universally recognized health data standard. Their platform facilitates secure data sharing, offering a blockchain-based marketplace for personalized health and longevity products. By ensuring secure and compliant handling of sensitive health data, BurstIQ brings blockchain’s security benefits to the fore.
Medifakt
The team behind Medifakt is developing Medifakt Network, a secure platform with an incentive model based on blockchain technology. The platform will have four main modules – the Data layer, Asset layer, Service layer, and Security layer – all integrated to create a comprehensive solution.
Medifakt Network’s HealthNode module will cover electronic health record management, clinical data management, health economics and outcomes research, and supply chain. The platform will use the concept of Data Fabric and Data Oracles to ensure the security of the data.
Clinicoin
The Clinicoin platform is a wellness program that uses cryptocurrency rewards to encourage users to partake in healthy activities. It utilizes a blockchain-based system to connect individuals, developers, and providers across the world with the aim of promoting global health, wellness, and research.
The Clinicoin community aims to improve health and wellness for individuals, organizations, and society at large. This community encompasses all aspects of health, including wellness, healthcare, and research. Anyone can benefit from this community, whether they are seeking to improve their own health, the health of their company, or the health of humanity as a whole.
Avaneer Health
Avaneer Health, a digital network company founded by several healthcare organizations in 2020, has launched a private network for peer-to-peer communication. The purpose is to create a secure healthcare data fabric and address interoperability challenges. By connecting to the Avaneer Network, participants can easily share real-time data and simplify healthcare administration.
Use cases of decentralization and blockchain in healthcare
Transparency in the Supply Chain
The healthcare supply chain is a complex network involving many stakeholders, from manufacturers to healthcare providers. Ensuring the authenticity of medical products is challenging yet crucial. Blockchain introduces unprecedented transparency, as it creates an immutable ledger that records each product’s journey.
Every transaction, from manufacturing to delivery, gets logged in real-time. This blockchain-enabled traceability makes it harder for counterfeit drugs to infiltrate the supply chain and ensures patients receive genuine products. It also streamlines the recall process, if necessary, by swiftly identifying the affected batch.
In a decentralized blockchain model, each party involved in the production and distribution of medical supplies—manufacturers, distributors, wholesalers, pharmacies, and hospitals—becomes a node in the network. By using smart contracts and traceability solutions, any anomalous transactions that don’t comply with preset rules can be identified quickly, thereby increasing accountability.
However, a significant challenge lies in the integration of this technology into existing supply chains. The adoption would require a vast amount of coordination between various stakeholders, each with their individual interests and varying technological capabilities. Overcoming these hurdles to establish a universally acceptable standard will be critical for the successful implementation of blockchain in healthcare supply chains.
Fast Medical Credentialing
The process of verifying the credentials of healthcare professionals is time-consuming and prone to inefficiencies. Blockchain offers a robust solution by creating a decentralized database of verified professional credentials.
A blockchain-based system allows instant access to a healthcare provider’s qualifications, reducing the time and cost involved in manual verification. This faster credentialing process not only enhances productivity but also helps in emergency situations where immediate care is paramount.
While blockchain’s ability to facilitate faster medical credentialing holds vast potential, there are hurdles to overcome. One of the major concerns is the need for global standardization of credentials to ensure that qualifications from different countries can be verified with the same level of authenticity.
Moreover, the issue of confidentiality comes into play. A balanced approach that respects the privacy of the individuals while maintaining the transparency of credentials is required, requiring rigorous policies and practices for data management on blockchain platforms.
Patient-Centered Electronic Health Records (EHRs)
Current EHR systems are often fragmented, with patient data scattered across multiple providers and platforms. Blockchain presents an opportunity for a patient-centered approach, where individuals control their own health records.
In a blockchain-based EHR, patients can grant providers access to their complete, immutable health history, facilitating more informed decisions. This decentralized model also simplifies the process of transferring records between providers, creating a more cohesive and efficient healthcare system.
While a patient-controlled EHR system would undeniably empower individuals, it also brings its own set of challenges. Ensuring the accuracy and completeness of data entered by patients would be crucial. Also, there are concerns regarding the digital literacy of patients, the potential for misuse of information, and the need for robust cybersecurity measures.
Improved Medical Trials
Blockchain has the potential to revolutionize clinical trials, primarily through enhanced data integrity. It allows the secure, transparent, and immutable recording of patient data and trial results, reducing the risk of manipulation or data loss.
Moreover, blockchain can streamline participant consent management, by logging each consent version and timestamp in an immutable ledger. This improved accountability promotes trust in the trial process and results.
While blockchain can indeed mitigate data manipulation and enhance trust in clinical trials, it’s essential to consider data privacy and consent. The challenge here is to create a system that ensures anonymity and protects sensitive patient information while simultaneously providing transparent and secure data for the trials.
Enhanced Security
The healthcare industry is a frequent target for cyberattacks due to the sensitive nature of medical data. Blockchain offers a robust security solution. Its decentralized nature eliminates a single point of failure, and each transaction is encrypted and linked to the previous one, making data tampering virtually impossible.
Blockchain’s enhanced security and potential for smart contracts are transformative, yet these applications are not without complications. A significant consideration is the legal standing of smart contracts. As they become more widely used, creating a legal framework around them is crucial.
Moreover, achieving enhanced security requires managing the inherent complexity of blockchain systems. Ensuring that all users understand how to use these systems securely is paramount, requiring substantial investments in user education and system design.
Commitment via Smart Contracts
Smart contracts, self-executing contracts with the terms directly written into code, are another powerful application of blockchain in healthcare. They ensure automatic fulfillment of agreed terms, reducing reliance on intermediaries and minimizing disputes. For instance, smart contracts can automate insurance claims processing or regulate access to patient records, enhancing efficiency and trust.
Genomic Research
Genomic research is an exciting frontier in healthcare, promising personalized medicine and advanced treatments. However, it involves managing enormous data sets, which need to be stored securely and shared under controlled conditions.
Blockchain provides an optimal solution, ensuring the integrity, security, and controlled sharing of genomic data. This could fuel research collaborations and democratize access to genomic information, accelerating breakthroughs in personalized medicine.
Blockchain’s potential for managing genomic data is immense, but privacy concerns and ethical considerations are equally significant. While the technology can facilitate secure data sharing, it’s important to have rigorous consent processes for individuals whose genomic data is being used. Along with that, ethical guidelines need to be established to avoid misuse of this highly sensitive information.
Challenges of decentralized healthcare
While blockchain and decentralized technologies hold significant promise for healthcare, the road to full implementation is not without hurdles. It’s essential to address these challenges head-on to harness the true potential of this transformative technology.
Poorly Optimized Policy Design
Blockchain’s entry into the healthcare sector introduces new complexities that require thoughtfully crafted policies. Healthcare organizations must redefine and optimize policies to govern data ownership, privacy, interoperability, and standardization within the realm of decentralized technology.
Poorly optimized policies could lead to confusion and potentially compromise the security and integrity of health data. For example, ambiguous policies about data ownership could jeopardize patient privacy or hamper the seamless transfer of health records across providers.
Incompatible Policies between Local and National Entities
Healthcare is a sector influenced by both local and national policies, often resulting in a clash of regulations that could stifle the implementation of decentralized systems. Discrepancies between local and national policies might generate regulatory gray areas, obstructing smooth blockchain integration.
For instance, data privacy regulations might vary between jurisdictions, complicating building a blockchain platform compliant with all applicable laws. Harmonizing these policies is key to enabling blockchain’s promise of seamless, cross-border transfer of health data.
Inadequate Funding
While blockchain technology has the potential to revolutionize healthcare, its development, and implementation requires substantial financial resources. The costs associated with training staff, overhauling existing systems, and maintaining new technology can be prohibitive, especially for smaller healthcare organizations.
Securing funding can also be a challenge due to the perceived risk associated with investing in relatively new technology. Therefore, demonstrating the long-term value and cost-effectiveness of blockchain solutions is crucial to attracting the necessary funding.
Inadequate Management
Successful implementation of decentralized healthcare systems requires robust management strategies. Leaders must have a clear understanding of blockchain technology and its implications for their organization.
However, inadequate management and lack of blockchain expertise could lead to poor decision-making, undermining the benefits of decentralization. Addressing this challenge requires significant investment in training and perhaps recruiting talent with specific expertise in managing blockchain projects in healthcare settings.
Conclusion
The healthcare sector stands at the threshold of a paradigm shift, with blockchain technology heralding a new era of efficiency, security, and patient empowerment. Companies across the globe are stepping up to this transformative potential, leveraging decentralized technologies to develop solutions to longstanding challenges. However, the path to fully realizing these benefits is fraught with hurdles, from policy discrepancies to funding constraints. By addressing these issues proactively, the healthcare industry can navigate the road ahead and harness the full potential of blockchain technology.
