BITSONIC’s Blockchain Story — Medical Industry
The medical industry in the future
Medical big data is considered a key element in the 4th industrial revolution. Due to medical data collection, the quality of services will be improved, and personalized medical services will be provided depending on purposes.
Blockchain technology is the foundation to provide better services such as integrating and transacting data from multiple medical systems. Simultaneously, providing solutions to the problems that the medical industry encountered.
So, what changes can be made to the medical industry through blockchain technology? 🕶
Data security
In the era of big data, the utilization of medical information increases, and we often face personal data leakage in the medical field. For example, about 1.5 million people’s medical data was leaked through Singapore’s medical insurance agency SingHealth, and even Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Shenlong was among the victims. Besides, according to IBM’s security report, the medical industry has the biggest financial damage per data. Medical data security is an essential factor, and the implementation of blockchain will help prevent secondary damage. Through blockchain technology, information is encrypted and private keys are used to ensure that only users can view the data, thereby maintaining a high security level.
Cost reduction
To manage and operate medical systems, high costs are incurred. For instance, in medicines, a complicated procedure is required to prevent forgery or alteration of the genuine product in the distribution process. Also, the longer the procedure, the more maintenance costs are incurred. However, if the distribution procedure is established through blockchain technology, it guarantees the drug’s originality. The maintenance cost required for drug distribution can be reduced with low maintenance costs to improve an efficient process.
Ensure medical data integrity
Data integrity refers to complete data that protects data and does not cause harm to it. Maintaining data integrity in the medical industry is critical, and blockchain technology will utilize this. For example, personal data such as personal medical records can be recorded and stored on the blockchain. Data integrity can be ensured by storing a single, immutable version of the data.
The medical industry with blockchain technology
IBM
IBM is a leading company that develops a method to safely store personal medical data by analyzing the Internet of Things (IoT) and medical information data stored in the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and hospitals. They are currently building a related solution, and solutions for medical/biotechnology using blockchain technology are as follows.
1. Medical Solution
A. Medical data verification — Based on IBM blockchain technology, this solution is designed to protect the privacy and manage information in a digital wallet via smartphone.
B. New suppliers — Simplify the supplier management system and reduce risk in the medical product distribution process to reduce costs.
2. Biotechnology Solution
A. Pharmaceutical history management system — KPMG, Merck, Walmart, and IBM designed a pharmaceutical history management system using blockchain technology to the Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA) and passed the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) standards. The project has succeeded in reducing the time that takes 2–3 days to track medications to just a few seconds.
B. Transparency in data management — One of the top 20 in the pharmaceutical industry, Boehringer Ingelheim and IBM have a plan to provide a decentralized framework that enables data integrity, origin, transparency, patient empowerment, and process automation through blockchain technology.
Google Deep mind
Deep Mind, a Google subsidiary that developed ‘Alpha Go’ (an artificial intelligence (A.I.) Go program that played against Lee Sedol), is one of the companies that provide technologies representing artificial intelligence. Besides, various attempts are being promoted in the medical field. By developing an A.I. model with a lower breast cancer false positive rate than doctors, it is said that cancer can be diagnosed with a more accurate probability through big data.
It is expanding medical fields and is focusing on building an infrastructure for patient medical records by introducing blockchain technology. Using the blockchain, the data is recorded in the ledger when and for what purpose. Also, since such information is encrypted and recorded, only experts can check the data, and it is highly secure.
