Bridging the Conversation from Becker’s Healthcare: Blockchain Ed.

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Athena.Trade

8 min readOct 21, 2019

A BlockLegalTech 2.0 Spotlight Article on Daniel “Dazza” Greenwood Civics & MIT Media Lab

DISCLAIMER: This article is written from my experiences. It does not represent legal, financial, medical, nor investment advice. Neither conference is endorsing the other. These are my thoughts and all references are properly footnoted below. DISCLOSURE: I am assisting with coordination of BlockLegalTech 2.0 at Kent College of Law in both my roles at Omnium Blockchain and Athena.Trade. Where possible I have linked Twitter handles. If I missed one, please let me know. Happy to add or delete as needed.

Blockchain & Smart Contracts: From Healthcare to FinTech

Given that I have been to several conferences in the last 30 days from Wyoming to Chicago, and with Block Legal Tech 2.0 right around the corner, I wanted to synthesize some of what I have learned. In Blockchain and digital assets, a month is akin to a year in legacy regulated markets. First, I will summarize what I gained from Becker’s Healthcare, then I will correlate that with the upcoming session at BlockLegalTech as smart contracts have multiple uses and as the technology matures, the uses steadily abound.

Becker’s Healthcare IT, Blockchain Regulation Panels

Ms. Kristen Johns Kristen Johns &.Ms. Elizabeth Breeden DPh, MS, CPHIMS

Last week, I had the privilege of attending and reviewing Becker’s 5th Annual Healthcare Conference: by Becker’s Hospital Review, Becker’s Health IT & Revenue Cycle Management 2019. An interesting conversation began and will dovetail nicely into BlockLegalTech 2.0. Becker’s devoted the Saturday sessions to an exclusive Blockchain track. There were two panels of note, which debated the regulation needed to use smart contracts in public - private transactions that cross multiple jurisdictions, i.e., rev cycle. [5][6][7] The first was Lessons from the Blockchain — Who are the Key Stakeholders and Why does it Matter? Featuring Ms. Kristen Johns JD, Partner, Waller, Lansden, Dorth, & Davis, LLP & Ms.Elizabeth Breeden DPh, MS, CPHIMS, Associate Professor, Chair, Health Care Informatics, RPD Pharmacy Informatics, College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, Lipscomb University. The panel was moderated by Mr. Scott Becker JD, Partner, McGuire Woods LLP; Publisher Becker’s Healthcare.

Blockchain in 2019 — New Issues, Cryptocurrencies and More: Becker’s Health Care 2019

The second was, Blockchain in 2019 — New Issues, Cryptocurrencies and More, featuring Patricia Peláez, Principal Charles River Associates, Lincoln Popp, Co-founder and CEO, Lumedic., a Providence St. Joseph Health Company, and Mitesh Rao MD, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer; Assistant Professor, OMNY; Stanford University School of Medicine. The panel was moderated by Ms. Mackenzie Garrity, Becker’s Healthcare. One of the main takeaways will be a topic of a second article on a central clearing from Healthcare to FinTech, and beyond.

Yet, the gist of the panel with respect to clearing can be summed up here,

“Blockchain has matured through the financial sector as it tracked banking and stock transactions. It holds the promise of storing and disseminating data through a secure medium, where no single person can tamper with records. Ideally, a shared transactional ledger can potentially allow payers and providers to reduce claims denials and efficiently secure patient payments. This could potentially lower administrative costs and ease friction between payers, providers and patients, Lumedic CEO Lincoln Popp told Modern Healthcare.
‘If we can get better communication and sharing of information between payers and providers, that can go a long way for making the patient experience better,’ he said.” [16]

The Regulation Conundrum: Reinventing the Wheel, Is it Either Necessary or Proper?

Many times, it appears the advent of technology inspires concerns that ‘new regulation(s)’ is(are)needed. However, it seems that after reading both Mr. Greenwood’s, upcoming speaker at BlockLegalTech, testimonies and listening to Ms. Johns’ panel from Beckers, much of this regulation can be found within the Electronic transaction and Signature Acts as noted below. The Uniform Law Commission, (ULC), which has been enacted in 47 states, the U.S. Virgin Islands and the District of Columbia with the purpose of providing states with

“non-partisan, well-conceived and well-drafted legislation that brings clarity and stability to critical areas of state statutory law.” [11]

Ms. John’s statements parallel the ULC, Guidance Note Regarding the Relation Between the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act and the Federal ESIGN Act, Blockchain Technology & Smart Contracts,

“In four parts, this Guidance Note explains that the UETA already adequately encompasses blockchain and smart contracts, and changes to specifically address these technologies are not only unnecessary but also detrimental. First, this Guidance Note provides an overview of the UETA and ESIGN, paying particular attention to the technology-neutral underpinning of both statutes. Second, this Guidance Note provides a high-level overview of blockchain-based smart contracts. Third, this Guidance Note dispels the myth that a smart contract is meant to serve, by default, as a legally enforceable contract. Finally, this Guidance Note analyzes blockchain and smart contracts under the UETA, demonstrating that the UETA, without amendment, adequately governs blockchain and smart contracts when incorporated into a legally enforceable contract” Id.
“UETA and ESIGN then proceed to provide, in relevant part, that: (a) A record or signature may not be denied legal effect or enforceability solely because it is in electronic form (b) A contract may not be denied legal effect or enforceability solely because an electronic record was used in its formation. (c ) If a law requires a record to be in writing, an electronic record satisfies the law.(d) If a law requires a signature, an electronic signature satisfies the law.” Id.

BlockLegalTech: Moving Beyond ESIGN, Blockchain, & Autonomous Systems a Natural Extension with Mr. Dazza Greenwood from MIT MediaLab

On October 24th, Mr. Greenwood, a highly respected legal professional who consults with Fortune 100 companies and has testified before the US House where he advocated for the Electronic Signature in Global and National Commerce Act (E-SIGN) at a hearing June 9, 1999, of the Subcommittee on Telecommunications, Trade and Consumer Protection, [4] Senate version the 106th Congress as Public Law 106–229 and codified as 15 U.S.C. ch. 96, will speak at BlockLegalTech 2.0

Just as in Mr. Greenwood’s previous testimony, a lack of agreement in state regulation can, particularly in the case of electronic signature, impede innovation. Mr. Greenwood was instrumental in passing the pivotal legislation that facilitated innovation and enabled e-commerce as we know it today.

In an excerpt from his 1999 testimony before the Senate,

“…the needs of the nation require that federal action preempt state law. This has been long accepted where states create undue impediments to interstate commerce. The fact that states have adopted such a dizzying array of different laws dealing with electronic signatures and records has been a major contributor to the current efforts for federal action. If states had been more cognizant of market approaches and the problems with patchworks of law in this multi-jurisdictional transaction flows of electronic commerce, it is unlikely that the current political climate would support federal preemption in this area. If states quickly pass uniform law in this area, it is likely that legitimate private sector interests in a national baseline will cease agitating for broadly preemptive federal law.” [7]

While ESIGN has been the norm for so long that it is quite likely we do not even give the ‘E’ a second thought, where does that leave Blockchain or Autonomous Systems? Coupling this guidance note with Mr. Greenwood’s summary on the intersection of same,

“The most important concept to take away from these legal frameworks in the context of automated and autonomous systems is the need for attribution to a legal person. The federal ESIGN Act states plainly that the contracts or other acts of electronic agents (eg automated processes or systems) can not be denied legal force or effect “so long as the action of any such electronic agent is legally attributable to the person to be bound.” [1]

Much of Mr. Greenwood’s recent work centers upon autonomous transactions and the liability of same as we move past ESIGN, and explore other nuances found within autonomous transactions.

“As innovations like blockchain technology, mass-scale automation and the emergence of fully autonomous systems become more commonplace, new legal questions are arising . However, some of the most pressing legal questions are hardly new at all, and in fact legal frameworks in US federal and state law have already been enacted to address those questions…” [1]

As mentioned above and reiterated here,

“One of the most relevant parts of these laws relates directly to the use of new technologies like blockchain and AI that enable a high degree of automation and in some cases, even autonomous action. Specifically, these laws define the rules for enforceability of contracts formed without human review or approval through use of “electronic agents” conducting “automated transactions.” Id.

Enter Computational Law by MIT Media Lab

This brings us to the cusp of Autonomy, as it would appear in these panels that while autonomy in transactions may not be entirely accepted to date, and further, many details will require a perpetuity of education in order to understand these nascent, and in many ways misunderstood technologies, there is a common midpoint, a bridge, which is found in computational law. In essence, computational law, simply extends the use of tools, to optimize human oversight. I see the advent of computational law serving much of the same purpose that stablecoins have, in digital assets and cryptocurrency for settlement, bridging legacy and emerging technologies. Mr. Greenwood describes it best, what is Computational Law,

“[It is] more like the Iron Man than the C3PO.” [2]

I look forward to a thought provoking session on the intersection of these emerging technologies and the intersection of regulatory framework to accelerate innovation, not stifle same.

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