The Pathfounder — Implications of Blockchain on the Health Sector
On Friday the 16th of February, I was honoured to sit alongside Toby Lewis and Toby Stone, to answer questions delivered by Mike Butcher, MBE. Mike is the Editor-at-large of @TechCrunch + @TechHub @Coadec @TheEuropas@Techfugees@Tech_Vets.
Mike Butcher sought insight on problems that exist within healthcare today and on the future direction of healthcare. I shared my first-hand experience observing the ever-growing appetite that patients hold for more control over their health. Gone are the days in which patients accept a paternalistic approach to consultations, and people rightly wish to be treated as partners when making decisions regarding their health and social care.
Both Mike Butcher and the two Toby’s exhibited a genuine interest in the Medicalchain vision: To give people more control over their health by empowering them with ownership and control over their healthcare records. Unlike previous attempts to provide patients with access to their health records via a government controlled centralised system, Medicalchain is placing the power in the hands of the people using blockchain technology, thus promoting a patient-centric approach to future healthcare.
After 15 minutes of discussion, questions were opened up to the audience. The main focus of the audiences questioning was regarding the barriers to the implementation of blockchain technology in healthcare. I explained that due to the complexities of change management in healthcare, variables exist beyond governmental resistance or funding. There are an array of challenges that will inevitably slow down any innovation in healthcare. It is important, as a project, that we acknowledge all shareholders throughout the project to enable the successful implementation of blockchain technology. While Medicalchain is taking a bottom-up approach, we are also working very closely with governments and healthcare organisations to obtain the right opportunity to demonstrate the power of blockchain to make people’s lives better.
Following question time, my colleagues and I received many enquiries from other companies and academics in the field inspired by the patient-centred possibilities that would exist through the implementation of Medicalchain. The event was an overwhelming success and, the Medicalchain Team thank Mike, Toby and the community for their time and efforts in supporting the project.
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