The considerable hype around blockchain is starting to be tempered by enterprises earning practical experience and identifying worthwhile use cases for the technology.
Most of the buzz around blockchain in healthcare has focused on EHRs, interoperability and security, but a new potential for value-based care, precision medicine and a patient-driven healthcare system are emerging as more clear and present opportunities for the distributed digital ledger technology.
While we don't expect the hope for data interoperability and security to fade away, hospital executives who want to stay abreast of what's really happening with blockchain will also need to understand these new considerations.
Blockchain and the move to value-based care
A variety of possible use-cases for blockchain are coming into focus for healthcare, ranging from clinical to financial to administrative.
"Traditional healthcare fee-for-service payment systems are overly complex and expensive from an administrative perspective. On average, payment administration accounts for about 14 percent of healthcare spending. Blockchain applications can definitely reduce the waste," said Corey Todaro, chief product officer at Hashed Health, which leads a consortium of healthcare companies focused on accelerating innovation using blockchain.
Precision medicine and a patient-driven healthcare system
Blockchain-based systems could help drive unprecedented collaboration between participants and researchers around innovation within medical research, particularly in the fields of precision or personalized medicine.
Maria Palombini, director of emerging communities and initiatives development at the IEEE Standards Association, said that blockchain can enable the patient-driven healthcare system.
"The lack of interoperability among data systems in a personal health network is a detriment on patient care," she said. "Informed patients know that data is critical to enhancing their care and safety. This is beyond safety from data hacks, this is the ability for their healthcare providers to have access to information that will help them better treat the patient."
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Source: Healthcare IT News (View full article)
Posted by Dan Corcoran on November 17, 2017 06:51 AM
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