These Are the Applications of Blockchain Technology in The Healthcare Industry

Blockchain technology has moved ahead from Bitcoin and any other kind of cryptocurrency to multiple domains and is helping several industries with their security, reliability and operational efficiency.

Today we are going to talk about the unlikely collaboration between this incredible bit of technology called blockchain and the healthcare industry.

When we think about the healthcare industry, blockchain might be the last thing that comes to our mind but there is actually a real collaboration taking place between the two.

Blockchain with its level of security and decentralized stability is perfectly suited to tackle security issues as well as administrative flaws in traditional healthcare management systems.

This actually makes blockchain perfectly suited for multiple industries and this has led to the rise of the global blockchain market which is in the billions.

In fact, if you look at the stats you can see that healthcare takes up a huge chunk of the global blockchain technology market and it is for good reason.

The valuation of blockchain technology in the healthcare sector is expected to reach nearly a trillion dollars by the next decade and it has one of the highest Compound Annual Growth Rates (CAGR) of 69.2% which is already massive compared to any other industry.

One of the interesting things to notice here is that whenever we see the introduction of any technology in any industrial sector, we mostly see that technology being adopted by the private sector but things are different here.

If you look at the numbers then you are going to find that the public healthcare sector is utilising blockchain much more than the private sector and this is going to give it the level of push that it needs to reach a trillion dollars in the next decade.

So, let us look at the reasons why the healthcare industry is depending on blockchain and investing heavily in it.

But before we do that, we need to understand what is blockchain technology all about.

What Is Blockchain Technology?

The simplest way to describe blockchain technology is that it is a technique of storing information and data in blocks connected by chains. It is a decentralised and distributed digital ledger system and sometimes it is called Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT).

This means that within a blockchain, information is stored in blocks and these blocks can contain everything from transactions to any other kind of data in a decentralized manner.

Unlike regular information storage which is done in a central server, blockchain is stored in the peer-to-peer (P2P) technique. This means that it is very difficult to tamper with that information because it is not stored in a single place but on multiple sources which can be computers and these multiple sources are referred to as nodes.

The security level of blockchain technology is so good simply because you do not have a single point of storage and this is all a tired together with a distributed ledger so that all the nodes can have access to the information.

In order to understand this, let us look at an example. Let’s say you have a very important piece of paper and it is very important to you that the authenticity of this piece of paper is never questioned. Your arch-rival is always trying to gain access to that paper, falsify that paper and claim it as his.

You have two choices and one of these choices is to keep that piece of paper locked safely in your house within a vault and you get to keep the key with you at all times. ?

The problem with this is that if your rival breaks into the vault then they have access to that piece of paper and they can even replicate it and even replace it with something fraudulent you will not even know. With the first approach, you have no secondary way to prove to the world that it is your paper.

The second option that you have in your hands is to send a copy of that piece of paper to everyone you know and ask them to copy it and send the paper to everyone they know and make it common knowledge that this is your piece of paper with an accompanying picture of yourself with each copy. ?

This means that even if your rival tries to tamper with your piece of paper, you now have multiple sources of evidence to verify that your piece of paper is authentic.

This is blockchain.

If someone wants to then they can trace back any copy of that paper back to you and it also makes security quite excellent because there are multiple points of verification making the information or in this case the piece of paper impossible to delete or overwrite.

Applications Of Blockchain Technology in The Healthcare Industry

Patient Medical Records Management

Handling and storing as well as the sharing of patient health data can be quite challenging because every health care institution uses a different system.

That is where blockchain technology can be utilised to create a unified system where it would become much easier for different healthcare institutions to exchange information.

Having a single system instead of individual systems means that the data of every patient there is going to be stored in the safest and seek your possible and will always be available for reference.

This will make it easier for different healthcare institutions to work with each other in order to come up with solutions that are more practical.

One of the other important things to keep in mind here is that it also means that it would be impossible to tamper with patient medical records.

Supply Chain Management

Healthcare institutions including pharmaceutical companies need to maintain some of the most complicated and some of the largest supply chains in order for timely drug delivery.

However, there are a lot of problems with existing systems in the form of inefficiencies and also the traceability of the origin of the drugs.

We commonly hear of problems related to the introduction of counterfeit drugs into the supply chain just because it is very difficult to trace the journey of medicine from the start to the endpoint.

Improper data security can result in malicious activities in the form of the distribution and the introduction of counterfeit drugs into the supply chain.

This can be avoided with the help of blockchain technology which is going to provide the most secure starting-to-end encryption and tracking opportunities.

This will make it impossible to tamper with any kind of records related to the supply chain and it will also ensure security in all aspects of the supply chain from the authentication of the credentials of the logistics personnel to the security of payments.

Blockchain technology is going to allow healthcare institutions to keep track of as much information as possible without it being corrupted.

Clinical Trial Record Management

It is nearly impossible to conduct transparent clinical trials and research with traditional data storage and management.

This is because there are so many stakeholders when it comes to clinical trials such as the pharmaceutical company as well as the lobbying groups and even the government in some cases who can expect to gain something from the trials. Data manipulation is very common.

When it comes to a multi-billion-dollar industry like the pharmaceutical industry, it is very common to hear about data manipulation in order to stop, delay or pass certain drugs that might ensure a profit for a stakeholder.

The only way to deal with this kind of situation is with the help of a technology where data manipulation is impossible with thousands of sources of verification.

This technology needs to be redundant enough that it cannot be shut down or taken out of service.

Blockchain technology is the answer and it actually gaining quite the momentum in this regard.

Yes, blockchain technology will ensure data integrity when it comes to clinical trials and it is also going to be excellent from the point of view of patient consent when it comes to these trials and the reward system for these trials and its participation is also going to be easy.

Healthcare Finances

The healthcare industry has to deal with billions of dollars each day which means it also has to account for all that money that is moving within the system.

However, the traditional system of billing and payment processes are not at all efficient enough to account for every cent that moves in within the system.

Things get even more complicated if we take into account the dealings with insurance companies and we have a complicated and highly dysfunctional financial system in our hands.

Blockchain technology can just be the solution for it since it is nearly impossible for any kind of data loss in the blockchain system as long as you have the proper ledgers in place.

Blockchain can provide excellent fraud prevention and it can also account for automated claims processing with a transparent decentralized system that is impossible to tamper with.

This means healthcare institutions do not have to invest in their private billing systems and this is going to make the entire finance management system of healthcare institutions quite efficient accounting for every cent that moves within the system.

Security and Privacy

Data security is perhaps the biggest point of achievement for blockchain because nothing even comes close to blockchain when it comes to encryption and security.

Blockchain can and is being utilised by the healthcare industry right from the safe storage of patient information to the security of the pharmaceutical supply chain.

Data security is very important in the healthcare industry and can even result in life-and-death situations.

This is because medical errors account for a lot of deaths every year and these deaths can simply be avoided with the help of a system where data corruption or data mixing up is impossible.

Along with that, we must also understand that decentralization is an important factor in this as the only way to ensure data security is to make sure no single entity has the authority to the data.

Blockchain ensures reduced errors in the healthcare industry.

Remote Treatment

Remote treatment is getting very popular and telemedicine is also on the rise right from the time of the pandemic.

These two applications require the exchange of data at a very high rate and at a very accurate rate without any kind of errors.

In order to ensure the safest remote patient monitoring system and remote treatment systems, you need the doctor and the patient to be on system that is impossible to hack and that has excellent redundancy.

Blockchain technology is excellent in both situations because blockchain not only allows for secure communication with the best levels of encryption when it comes to things like remote patient monitoring and telly medicine consultations but it is also excellent in terms of data accuracy.

Medical Devices Management & Security

If we think about the next level of evolution for telemedicine and remote patient assistance then we need to think about medical devices and especially those devices that are connected over a long distance.

When it comes to medical devices, we must also think about everything from simple tech like the computers used by the nurses to the pacemakers and other highly complicated devices.

If you follow the news then you will know that malware attacks have made entire hospital management systems inoperable as our existing healthcare systems were extremely vulnerable.

This means that you not only need a system that is capable enough of handling information and storing information but also doing it in the most secure way possible so that it is never out of order, the answer is blockchain.

Blockchain makes it possible to create systems that are impossible to penetrate through cyber attacks and that allow for the management of everything from simple devices to complicated devices all interconnected with each other without any failure points.

Blockchain can be easily integrated into every aspect of device management in any healthcare industry from the alert systems used by healthcare professionals to even the devices implanted within patients and much more.

We hope this blog will help you understand the importance of data security in the healthcare industry and how blockchain can completely revolutionise how we deal with data in the healthcare industry.

If you are associated with the healthcare industry and would also like to implement some of the most secure data security practices within healthcare management systems with the help of blockchain, we are here for you.

We are Think To Share IT Solutions and we provide the most comprehensive blockchain integration solutions for every kind of enterprise need. Along with that, we are also experts at AI integration.

We can utilise our extensive market experience and our diverse portfolio of knowledge in order to create custom blockchain solutions for all your needs.