Wednesday, August 14, 2019

Blockchain in Healthcare: Opportunities, Challenges, and Applications.


Growing businesses demands the need to bring revolutionary changes in all the aspects of their businesses as time and technology progress. When it comes to the field of health care, the urgency of growth escalates to higher levels. Quality healthcare services backed up with the latest technology is the need for today. Moreover, the healthcare system landscape is shifting towards a more patient-centric approach which focuses on two major elements namely, affordable treatment and apt healthcare facilities at all times.

Focusing on quality health care services means ensuring patient health management at a superior level at all times. However, federal rules and regulations are making processes even more tedious and lengthy. Due to this, keeping the processes intact and providing effective patient care is not feasible in many cases.


In the healthcare sector, critical patient data and information remains scattered across different departments and systems. Crucial data is not accessible and handily available in times of need. The existing healthcare ecosystem cannot be considered complete as multiple players in the system do not have a system in place for smooth process management. Moreover, it is also termed as inadequate for handling the exchange of information and requires certain major changes.

Many healthcare facilities today are dependent on outdated systems for keeping patient records. These systems hold the functionality of keeping local records of the patient data. This can make it difficult for the doctor to diagnose which is time-consuming for the doctor and tedious for the patients too. Due to this, the cost of maintaining a patient-oriented business is increased considerably. Patients don’t have any control over their data, the chances of identity thefts, financial data crimes and spamming are increasing every day.

Despite having gadgets like computers and mobile phones at every healthcare facility these days, we’re still not able to collect, analyze, secure and exchange data seamlessly. Therefore, the healthcare system today not only needs an advance system rather it also needs a system that is smooth, transparent, economically efficient and easily operable.

However, Blockchain is one of the most disruptive technologies that has taken the world by storm these days. A blockchain is nothing but a register that keeps track of transactions and activities happening throughout the network. The most unique factor of a blockchain is that once a piece of information is added to the distributed ledger, no one can alter it. The information stored on a blockchain is absolutely secure in its entirety. In order for anyone to make a change in one block, it is mandatory to make changes to all the subsequent blocks after it.

Blockchain has the power to bring out a massive breakthrough in the healthcare ecosystem as it can easily bring specific changes in the healthcare management of the patient. With the aid of this technology, the power will come back to people’s hands. Meaning that individuals will be responsible for handling their own records thus, getting the overall control of their own data.

The technology holds the ability to successfully improve patient care quality while maintaining the funds at a reasonable rate. All the challenges and hindrances that occur in multiple level authentication can be eliminated through blockchain. With the increasing adoption rate, Blockchain has made its way to the healthcare sector. Even in its beginning stage, the technology is being positively accepted by people in the healthcare ecosystem.

The comprehensive vision for blockchain to disrupt the healthcare sector in the coming times would be to resolve issues that afflict the current system. Imagine a healthcare system where all the information is easily accessible by doctors, patients and pharmacists at any given time. Blockchain allows the creation and sharing of a single common database of health information.
This system would be accessible by all the entities involved in the process no matter which electronic medical system they use. This offers higher security and transparency while allowing doctors find more time to spend on patient care and their treatment. Moreover, it will also enable better sharing of statistics of researches which, in turn, would facilitate clinical trials and treatment therapies for any rare disease.

In a healthcare system, smooth data sharing between healthcare solution providers can lead to accuracy in diagnosis, effective treatments, and cost-effective ecosystem. The day-to-day growth of patient data requires proper utilization of resources in order to make the most effective utilization of the insights discovered through it.

The potential of blockchain technologies for healthcare highly depends on the acceptance of the new technology within the healthcare ecosystem in order to create technical infrastructure. Though there are certain concerns and speculations regarding Blockchain’s integration with current healthcare systems and its cultural adoption, the technology is still popular in the healthcare sector.With so many potential uses, and possibilities, blockchain is sure to disrupt the healthcare landscape for good.

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