Blockchain in the healthcare industry
Blockchain technology as a platform is set to change the healthcare industry, as it will many other industries.
As part of my day job, I always need to be up to speed with the strategic aspects of most technologies. As I am reading a lot of articles, on "Technology and trends of the future", one thing that I am noticing more and more is that "Block Chain" technology is in most of the Top X Amount of technologies to look out for in the future. To be honest, if I read any of these type of articles, and the blockchain technology is not listed in the Top 10 technologies to watch out for, I will probably not read the article any further.
I am also noticing that more and more users which are joining the Steemit Platform are non-technical users, and that is why I am writing my most recent articles, from a non-technical perspective.
Blockchain in the Medical Industry
I have mentioned earlier in the article that BlockChain will disrupt many different industries, and will therefor over time write a few articles, to explain why I am saying what I am saying. So let's start with the medical industry, but not from the Medical side, more from a patient information side.
Won't it be nice if you can carry your patient record with you in a secure manner, where ever in the world you are traveling? You are in control of your own medical history, and you can decide who are allowed to view this information when you want to.
So let's look at an example:
I am a Canadian travelling in Australia. I get the flu, and need to attend a doctor's appointment to get some antibiotics. I make an appointment at the nearest hospital. When I see the doctor, he asks me, to allow him access to my Medical Records. I do so, by providing him with a link via email. He selects the link which executes a smart contract or workflow which in turn sends me an email from the Doctor's email, requesting me to open my patient record to him … and all of a sudden the link opens my file, which is secured on the blockchain. Not only does it opens the patient record for the doctor to see my history, but he will also add to this history, by prescribing specific antibiotics, and it will be recorded in my full audit trail, which will be kept on the blockchain forever.
Image Credit
Please note the above image is a fictional record that I found online as an image.
This is already happening by the way …
There are many companies which already provide these services, well in fact in a much easier way than sending emails via workflow. You can actually do it via a mobile phone authenticating via you private key, which is one of a few main reasons, why blockchain will be the appropriate technology.
Blockchain and security
One of the main problems which Blockchain is solving are that of privacy and security. I have found a very good explanation in laymen's terms of how difficult it is to break or hack the blockchain in a blog from Edward Bukstel on Medium. All credit for the statement below to Edward
…blockchain incorporates crazy ridiculous security that could take the world’s most powerful supercomputers, working every second of every day, over 10,000 years to crack,. How is this security so strong? Well, imagine multiplying 2 prime numbers so large that if you typed the result of their multiplication onto 8.5 x 11 paper, the stack of paper would be large enough to go to the moon and back and further. Imagine the result of that multiplication of very large prime numbers as the public identifier for a person’s electronic healthcare record. If you plugged the result into a supercomputer it could take forever to identify the 2 prime numbers that were initially multiplied together to create the result. It is also useful to consider that there are even more sophisticated security algorithms beyond the RSA Prime number example.
Blockchain also solves the Master Patient Identifier problem
One of the key problems to solve in an environment where there are a multitude of systems, and different rules in the various countries around the world, is that the system needs to identify you as a patient by a unique identifier. This can be solved via every user having a private key. Exactly the same key, which you will use as your identifier for your currency transactions. Your private key are basically your universal identification document for any transaction. So it doesn't matter which country you are from, or what medical aid you have. You are in control of who sees your information, and not some tech dude administrator, which sits in the backroom, which is currently managing your bank information, your medical information or any other information which is inside a computer system anywhere the world. The administrator can always see everything.
So why is this technology not mainstream yet.
I will be refereeing to a blog from Edward Bukstel on Medium. All credit for the statement below to Edward.
The biggest barrier to the introduction of any new technology no matter how “disruptive” is the $3+ Trillion US Health System does not adapt very quickly.
This is not only the case in the US, but the case in every country on earth.
There where the money flows, is normally a hesitation, to transparency. I do not think that a $3 Trillion industry wants to be as transparent as we want them to be. The less we know, the less they have to defend, and the easier for "some items" to be added to the invoices of unsuspecting patients.
I will probably write more about the specific aspects of blockchain in the Healthcare industry as it is a very large topic to cover in detail.
As a summary there are many different aspects to consider, but up to now, I could not really find any aspects or doubts on why this technology could not work, actually work very easily … but there are always an adoption curve or evolution that needs to happen by the various players in the industries …
Happy Steeming
If you enjoy my articles please follow me on my blog at @jacor
I love the idea of having a Master Patient Identifier.
never thought of it that way. that's really cool actually. As soon as you start building that platform i will be one of your first investors. seriously. anyone who does i will be on board.
@solarguy, I will then have to contact you soon as this is one of the areas we are currently exploring as part of our incubation effort. There is obviously a lot to get in place, but we have a lot of interesting parties.
Using the blockchain in the heathcare industry would be great for everyone. Then I wouldn't have to fill out my past medical history anymore.
Exactly, and it would not matter where in the world you are and at which doctor, medical aid or hospital. Beautiful isn't it :)
I see the benefits and, Wow, I have gone from complete ignorance of the Blockchain 6 weeks ago to now, somewhat informed... Articles like this are not only educating me but giving me the ability to spread the word. Many thanks @jacor
It' a great pleasure @ukblogger . Love writing articles like these and hearing good feedback :)
I feel like saying the blockchain will revolutionise and greatly enhance the healthcare industry as opposed to disrupt it is more accurate! A very interesting article highlighting just one of the many great things enabled by the technology.
Thanks @joachim, I fully agree with you.
I worked in the UK health system for a while and the patient record keeping was done on custom databases running on old (pre xp) windows machines. Layers of security supposedly restricted who could see what data and ring fenced information that could not be shared between departments who were supposed to be working together. Innovation definitely needed in this area!
Fully agreed. The tech is ready to take to market when we build the appropriate front end. Many blockchain companies are already focusing on building solutions for this.
Indeed, blockchain associated with the healthcare industry could be great! I am belonging to those who didn't know anything about blockchains before joining steemit and it is amazing all the possibilities that this opens! Looking forward to it!
Nice one @jacor. I spent some time at the Gartner symposium earlier this week (no longer have the stamina for 3 full days of mind numbing speakers). They do see Blockchain Technology as one of the Top 10 strategic technology trends for 2017 (Blockchain and Distributed Ledger), but my impression is they consider it as immature and not yet really relevant... just my take at the time.
Edit: Sorry forgot to mention.... while networking I mentioned Steemit and Steem to quite a few individuals... to blank stares. Without exception none of them had heard of Steemit.
Thanks for the comment @themagus . Will download their reports in a bit to see what they are up to with their predictions. I am speaking to more and more of my larger customers, and the finance and telecommunications industry customers are all now looking into the tech. Apologies man, I wasn't on the platform due to workload. I just saw you post for the meetup in Cape Town. Keep me up to speed with how you are progressing. Are you guys joining the more formal Steem Saturday event on the 29th of October ? It will be the first one in the world. So I think it is worth travelling for making history :)
I will keep you in the loop as regards the local gathering. I doubt that I will be making the October event.... but to be honest have not given it much thought. Perhaps I should arrange a business trip to tie in with that period !!
Now you are talking. Bear in mind Ned Scott will be here for the keynote and answering of questions. I booked the venue and paid the deposits yesterday. @gavvet will do a post either later today or tomorrow announcing the venue and we will have amazing speakers. I bet you it will be better than listening to the Gartner symposium dudes :)
Alright, I will give it serious consideration. Once I know which area I will arrange around that. I need to get that @gavvet chap to start giving me a vote or three ...
I'll chat to him. Will be Fourways area near Monte :)
I am super excited about the fact that the technology is there to have your full medical history in ONE record. I've been around the track with doctors and hospitals all "requiring" their own tests and medical background checks. To me, it's severely wasteful. Being able to have one's own medical history without tracking down the which, whens and whys makes more sense...and it can go with you anywhere while being secure. I love it!
Hi @merej99 , it is in deed very exciting. This thing is so secure ... I recently heard that the chance of getting the correct digits for a secure blockchain Private key accounts to the number of atoms in the universe to 1.
My question was: "Who counted the atoms?"
I reblogged this, because I actually understood this post. LOL!