Medicine + Blockchain
Swiss clinic accepts first cryptocurrency payment
Aug 30, 2018 — Blockchain and medicine would make a great pair.
Today, the MuellerMed Clinic, a private holistic medical practice in Montreux, Lake Geneva, received a cryptocurrency payment from a patient for the very first time.
In a classic marriage of interests, medicine offers cryptocurrency respectability, while blockchain (the technology behind cryptocurrency) offers medicine integrity.
And now, it’s happening: welcome to the world of crypto-medicine.
How medicine benefits cryptocurrency
“Our motivation in accepting cryptocurrencies is to become early adopters of a revolutionary technology and offer our patients a futuristic payment option as a first step,”says Karl Mueller a medical doctor and blockchain advocate who currently works at the clinic. “There are more and more people around the world learning about and embracing digital currencies.”
Cryptocurrency developers benefit from healthcare adoption because medicine is a critical service. When a currency like bitcoin is exchanged for medical treatment it increases its profile from speculation, to everyday use.
“The first barrier to adoption of nascent technology is utilization and understanding of its potential benefits. Once privacy is established, scalability will be achieved progressively,” explains Hirkirit Virdee a NHS Doctor and Pharmacist in the UK. “Tokenisation of personal data may empower patients to take control of their own clinical information and accept responsibility in its distribution within the healthcare ecosystem.’’
How cryptocurrency benefits medicine
It’s win-win. The ability to spend bitcoin on international healthcare will truly enhance the public perception of cryptocurrency. However, blockchain — the technology behind cryptocurrency — has even more to offer medicine in economic precision; cost-savings, fraud prevention, and reduced overhead.
It’s no secret that middlemen guarantors in healthcare such as insurance companies, administrators, and the malpractice industry add significant costs to medical care while providing questionable benefits. US healthcare spending was estimated at $3.3 trillion in 2016. However, the Consumer’s Union estimates that approximately 1 in 3 health care dollars is “waste spending”. For instance, areported 13.5 per cent of every dollar spent on health insurance goes toward administration and overhead. And an estimated 2.4 per cent of healthcare costs were “defensive spending” to protect doctors from lawsuits.
Blockchain is one possible solution. By allowing collaborating parties to keep a tamper-proof digital ledger it eliminates third-party guarantors and provides secure transparency between patients and their care providers.
Not only can a secure distributed ledger aid in medical billing via cryptocurrency, it can be used to validate clinician’s credentials, control access to patient’s records with smart contracts, improve data validity in clinical trials, secure the medical supply chain, and verify clinical tests.
Large healthcare organizations have been surprisingly fast to see the cost-savings potential in blockchain. In a 2017 IBM survey of healthcare executives from 200 countries, 16% expected to have a commercial blockchain solution at scale. A Delloite analysis of blockchain in healthcare concluded it had the “potential to reduce or eliminate the friction and costs of current intermediaries” and “could unlock the true value of interoperability”.
The EU is on board. In Aug 2018 the Innovative Medicines Initiative announced plans for a public-private partnership between the EU and the European pharmaceutical industry for a “substantial health blockchain project” earmarked at €18M and expected to last 3 years. Among other advances the project is expected to enhance the pharmaceutical supply chain by reducing counterfeit medication, and enhance patient records by integrating data from IoT to the clinical chart.
In conclusion
Blockchain is a disruptive technology that could substantially improve critical sectors, particularly medicine. Here’s hoping we see more innovation like today’s transaction.
