Blockchain with its distributed ledger technology has captured the markets attention for its data handling capabilities with respect to decentralization and security. With its relatively successful implementation in the financial domain, various industries are now realizing its benefits and are exploring the potential of blockchain in their respective domains. blockchain in healthcare today is one such industry looking at unlocking the benefits of blockchain. Several opportunities exist in healthcare wherein blockchain can help improve interoperability and privacy of patient health data. Some of the important healthcare applications are discussed in this article.
Blockchain for EHRs
The ideal scenario with EHRs is to maintain a life time medical record and be accessible to care team including physicians, lab technicians etc. at the point of care and on time. In current implementations of EHRs, patient data is stored across different organizations throughout the patient’s lifetime. Few sections of a patient’s medical record like medication
problems, diagnosis are recorded by the physicians and they continue to retain stewardship of those sections after a patient’s treatment. In a blockchain implementation, a patient holds the stewardship of medical record and physicians will be given access on a need basis through “smart contracts”.
One of the issues EHRs face currently is maintenance of records accurately involving correction of any erroneously recorded data. Apart from ensuring data integrity, different providers and hospitals system face interoperability challenges leading to ineffective data sharing, if any at all. The lack of coordination in data management and exchange leads to health records being fragmented.[2] Blockchain framework can help alleviate data fragmentation issues across new technology in healthcare. With blockchain implementations for EHRs, members of a private, peer-to peer network can share the block content with appropriate viewership permissions, while the original member maintains ownership of the data shared. In addition, blockchain supports “smart contracts which are basically self- executing contracts with the terms of agreement
coded in them. Smart contracts allow automation and tracking of state transitions like viewership rights or new record creation in a system. To guarantee data integrity, blockchain includes cryptographic hashing of records. The care team can add new records to a patient’s profile, while the patient decides which provider views the information by authorizing them. This ensures patient and provider engagement and helps in the evolution of patient records. Blockchain architecture is built on principles of decentralization and cryptography, which could contribute to more secure and highly interoperable EHR systems.
