Implementation of Blockchain Technology in Healthcare Development
‘The healthcare industry describes as intricate and complex”
This statement is likely to spark some heated debate. By complicated, it means that, while this industry has seen significant advancements in certain areas, it still requires much reshaping in other areas and aspects. These include patient data management, pharmaceutical traceability, data analysis, and more. By placing the patient at the focus of the medical ecosystem and ensuring the security, compatibility, and privacy of stored patient records, Blockchain has the potential to drop industry inefficiencies and reform healthcare. Various healthcare researchers are finding, experimenting, and discovering use cases for applications of Blockchain in healthcare and the applicability of Blockchain for health records.
Blockchain has established itself as an essential tool in healthcare by tracking pharmaceuticals, enhancing payment options, and decentralizing patient health history data.
Let’s see the implementation of Blockchain into healthcare and the benefits of it.
Blockchain in Healthcare
Blockchain technology enhances patients’ electronic medical records’ security in healthcare and enables secure compatibility between healthcare organizations.
The following are the groundbreaking blockchain technology’s applications in the healthcare sector.
1. The Pharmaceutical Supply Chain
Blockchain technology is benefiting not only the drug supply chain but the entire supply chain. Counterfeit products are a problem in almost every industry, but especially in the food and medical industries.
The only way to combat this situation and prevent counterfeit drug producers from getting their products onto the market is to use Blockchain to replace the traditional supply chain management system.
2. Drugs Traceability
The two components of Blockchain that will be most important in this sector are transparency and security.
Any pharmaceutical industry willing to register their products on the Blockchain must be reliable, as determined by those in charge of the private healthcare blockchain.
Once granted permission to record their drugs on the Blockchain, they can store all data related to the drugs on the Blockchain. By definition, every block of data on the Blockchain is time-stamped and irreversible.
As a result, no one involved in the drug transaction from the manufacturer to the retailer could tamper with the data to include counterfeit drugs. Furthermore, using the data stored on the Blockchain, the movement of drugs from one party to the next can track in real-time.
Customers can use QR codes on the cover of drugs to help them authenticate the products by providing them access to data about the drug manufacturers. Customers will be able to avoid purchasing counterfeit goods with ease.
3. Health Record Management
Regardless of the critical nature of a patient’s medical data, there is currently no efficient system in place that centralizes all data.
And even if there is, different organizations have disparate systems that lack compatibility, providing them ineffective.
A blockchain-based system for healthcare record management has the potential to straighten out the healthcare industry’s data mess.
Regardless of the medical centres and organizations that patients visit throughout their lives, Blockchain will enable storing all data in a centralized location. And patients will have complete control and oversight of their data.
Interoperability of the blockchain system would enable doctors to access a patient’s accurate medical history to diagnose their health conditions more.
If used as an EHR system, Blockchain would also provide unmatched security for patient data. The data cannot be altered or infected by a ransomware attack to gain control and unauthorized use.
Additionally, patients will have control over the parties with whom they share their records and whether they need to disclose their identity.
Further, they may compensate for sharing their health data with healthcare organizations for research and development.
Benefits of Blockchain in Healthcare
Based on the practical applications of Blockchain and the issues that it can solve in the healthcare industry, the following benefits and advantages can derive from the use of Blockchain Technology.
1. Robust Monitoring
One of the most critical capabilities that the healthcare network management team requires is comprehensive monitoring of all types of transactions.
The feature that differentiates Blockchain from other healthcare management systems is its decentralized record of all transactions. It is accurate and transparent to the core, saving time, effort, money, and the hassle associated with constant management.
2. Improved Collaboration
Any healthcare initiative’s success depends on the individuals involved, such as third parties, professionals, and researchers.
Blockchain technology enables these participants to collaborate more through distributed ledger technology by providing deep insights and conducting group research.
3. Data Protection
As before discussed, the healthcare industry’s primary issue is the leakage of critical data and its subsequent use for malicious purposes and other vested interests.
Another area of emphasis is ensuring that all database participants and parties access the most current and authentic patient and diagnosis information.
Blockchain technology utilizes the most advanced cryptographic techniques, rendering it immutable. This enables data authentication via a digital signature and foolproof data security, thereby resolving security and trust concerns.
4. Cost-effectiveness
A seamless, streamlined, and high-quality data sharing and distribution process across all key network participants and healthcare providers enable the development of cost-effective treatments and sophisticated cures for various diseases.
The organized step-by-step process records transactions in electronic health records, or EHRs, the industry-standard digital format.
This increases security and simplifies complex processes such as billing and other procedures by obviating the need for many validations and mediators acting on behalf of other entities.
5. Medical blockchain predictions
The application of Blockchain technology in healthcare appears to be promising.
It assists in resolving some of the industry’s most pressing issues. We envision a progressive future because Blockchain is decentralized, in contrast to most healthcare records, which are centralized.
A future in which Blockchain is used as a component of a system in which patients take ownership of their medical data rather than relying on a central source.
Of course, blockchain application presents its own set of technical challenges. The process and number of steps required to record, locate, and get data can be complex and many.
Still, with the help of emerging technologies such as machine learning and artificial intelligence, these issues will resolve.
Conclusion
To that end, can blockchain technology be used in healthcare?
Blockchain technology will be critical in enhancing the healthcare system and reshaping the healthcare industry’s future.
With Medical Blockchain storing and securing massive amounts of data at scale, the vision of providing personalized healthcare does not appear to be an impossible dream. By next year, blockchain-based production applications will be ubiquitous.
Medical science has made extraordinary paces in recent years with the development of high-quality medical solutions.
It is past time for medical technology to reach that level and synchronize all facets of the industry in a single, safe location — the Blockchain.
And at this rate, blockchains will soon become an integral part of the industry’s data management and supply chain systems.