Tracking. Period: Putting Healthcare on a Blockchain IV
Can blockchain improve your health and the healthcare industry?
In the previous article, we discussed how blockchain might potentially be involved in that banana you just ate. Now we want to apply the blockchain lens on the healthcare sector, unraveling how this tech might just be ‘round the corner — from tracking your period to saving you from an imminent heart attack.
In the past couple of years, the United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA), as well as the Centre for Communicable Diseases (CDC) have started exploring the use of blockchain to share and audit medical records, health data, and clinical trial results. Similarly, a prototype system MedRec by MIT Media Labs is close to realizing patient medication-tracking using a blockchain-based system. Clearly, quite some work has been done till date, but why aren’t such systems being rolled out any sooner?
Public Chain is not for Everyone
As with data privacy, it is always a contentious topic. More so in the healthcare sector, where data is pretty much up close and personal (just look at the uproar caused in the recent case of HIV data leak in Singapore). Bitcoin, Ethereum, and similar chains that we are familiar with, are generally public chains that allow access to everyone, globally. Now would you want all your medical records to be open for all to scrutinize? Maybe not.
On top of that, there are issues with patient identification and information blocking. Patient identification is simply to understand — there is currently no universal patient identifier that allows for a homogeneous management of patient record, which makes it prone to errors in patient care delivery. Information blocking is somewhat more of a tricky issue . You see, a great many hospitals and pharmaceutical firms are essentially business organizations, and sharing patient data is as good as giving their money away. And all those patient data and clinical trials are essentially treasure troves. Who will freely give them up in a public blockchain?
Adopting a permission-based blockchain?
Hence, a more probable approach might be to adopt a permission-based blockchain. Imagine a network for healthcare institutions exchanging data with each other on a unified blockchain, probably on a subscription basis with the permission opt-in approach. Within this network, no healthcare entity owns the data in entirety. Patients are identified via a hash ID (unique blockchain ID), which allows for precise patient identification. In other words, patients can visit various institutions knowing that the hospital can always find the complete health record via the network, yet only on a need-to-know basis since the ID secures the privacy of the user.
On the business aspect of this network, patients can be viewed as autonomous, individual data providers. They have control over how much data they wish to reveal via an interface. This opens the probability for patients to incentivize their data-sharing, which can resolve issues of information blocking by institutions. In a way, it is as though blockchain is playing as the Loxley of Nottingham, returning the power to the people (of sorts).
Other than the above-mentioned application, the very nature of blockchain of immutability and traceability helps prevent malicious parties from altering the data sets. As such, it is important that the appropriate blockchain is selected to build this infrastructure on to. Generally, the characteristics will be that of low maintenance cost (definitely not the power-hungry PoW chains), high speed, ultra-secure, and scalable to cope with the sheer transaction amount.
Proliferating blockchain in healthcare via wearable tech
The mention of wearable tech inadvertently evokes the images of Apple Watch, Fitbit, and the likes. But wearables are more than just these commercial products. In this case, we loosely define wearable technology as any instruments that are designed for prolonged human wear, with state-of-the-art communications technology. With these wearables penetrating deeper into most markets faster than before, the real application of blockchain might lie in harnessing the hardware capability of existing wearables and using blockchain as an intermediary to store the data. This way, not only is the data secure (not in the hands of a few tech titans) but also allows for active notification being pushed to your wrist about potential changes in your vitals through trend analysis based on collected data from the general public.
Conclusion
Blockchain will not be that tech found in glitzy interfaces, but it sure is a driving force of change for horizontal innovation. With growing attention given by international bodies through government and business organizations, it will not be too long before your medical records are available on-chain.
About the author: Weimin Teng
Thinker+Wanderer. Can be found somewhere between the mountains and sea snapping photos when not thinking about finding the best solution to solve a social problem.
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