VeChain and I-Dante Co-developed E-HCert, A Blockchain-based Covid-19 Records App For Mediterranean Hospital of Cyprus
May 20, Shanghai, China — With the ongoing pandemic putting healthcare systems under strain worldwide, Electronic Health Record (EHR) systems are also having to adapt to shifting requirements for patient care, scrambling to make sure data can be shared effectively, and different data systems can communicate with each other securely. As the leading public blockchain platform with many proven track use cases, VeChain furthers the collaboration with I-Dante to co-develop E-HCert App, which provides an archival solution for COVID-19 RT-PCR (real time-polymerase chain reaction) and antibodies tests (Rapid Test) records.
The success between VeChain and I-Dante on previous endeavors has led to a new project, which is to apply the principles of blockchain technology to assist in the war against COVID-19. As a result, the idea for the E-HCert App was made into reality and is now adopted by the Mediterranean Hospital of Cyprus. This innovative new EHR system will provide the hospitals with a fast and simple method of on-chaining the patients COVID-19 related testing records, giving a final result of the health status of the individual. Allowing government authorities, employers and other concerning parties to access said health information at the discretion of the individual while controlling privacy exposure. With this set up, the individual can go about life as usual.
Compatible EHRs Should Compare Notes On The Pandemic
In the case of COVID-19, the testing results of citizens can be vital for public welfare and personal rights. Authorities worldwide are calling healthcare institutions to rapidly provide secure and legit access to patient information to determine their infection and health status. In addition to that, citizens themselves would also need trustworthy and reliable proof for their own health condition and full control over their own privacy requirements. However, current EHR systems are revealing serious deficiencies in terms of its agility, interoperability, immutability, traceability, compliance, and very importantly, the cost.
The UK Information Commissioner’s Office recently said it would be “pragmatic” in enforcing the usual rules. It acknowledged that organizations might fall short of their usual data protection practices due to their need to divert resources away from compliance and information governance, and might take longer to respond to information rights requests.
There is, therefore, an urgent need for the collection of trustworthy and standardized encrypted medical records that can be safely shared between multi parties. This is where blockchain technology comes in and becomes the de facto choice for such an implementation.
The Most Feasible Choice For EHR reform: The Public Blockchain
This public blockchain-based E-HCert App provides an archival solution for COVID-19 RT-PCR (real time-polymerase chain reaction) and antibodies tests (Rapid Test) records, which will be utilized to enhance the hospital’s COVID-19 management and response.
Due to the urgent need of containing the outbreak of COVID-19, the E-HCert App will officially be deployed at the end of May 2020. Co-developed by VeChain and I-Dante, the E-HCert App serves as the official tool used by the Mediterranean Hospital of Cyprus to store the “COVID-19 test profile” of patients.
When a Cyprus citizen goes to the COVID-19 laboratory of the hospital and undergoes RT-PCR and antibodies tests, the testing and medical record will be encrypted and uploaded onto the VeChainThor Blockchain, and the immutably recorded results are then shown in the E-HCert Native App. As E-HCert fully complies with the GDPR (EU’s General Data Protection Regulation), the App enables the owner to have complete control over their profile and medical records, which upon their agreements, can be used to prove his or her health status. With this profile, citizens in the Republic of Cyprus will be able to comply with local quarantine and health regulations in order to return to work, take a flight abroad, and be authorized for other activities.
Enabling The Next Wave Of Digital Health Reform
COVID-19 has prompted an expansion of industrial power in healthcare that is a long way from over. A recent report found that 33 of the 50 US-based hospitals examined were working with Amazon, Google, or Microsoft. The internet giants are also striking sweeping agreements to store data and develop software for hospitals, as the technology giants wrestle for control in health-care and cloud-computing markets, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Compared with traditional technologies, blockchain technology provides vastly better opportunities for companies to review and redesign their healthcare data systems, optimize the overall workflow design, while simultaneously enabling every patient to safely hold their electronic healthcare records and share them immediately with any doctor, any hospital, any institution, and any authority in the world.
As the world’s leading public blockchain platform, VeChain intends to use its experience in the blockchain industry to empower more partners and companies in the healthcare sector. By doing so, VeChain will play a central role in the acceleration of the digitalization of the healthcare industry.
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About Mediterranean Hospital of Cyprus
The Mediterranean Hospital of Cyprus is a modern private health care institution, one of the largest in Cyprus, with a mission to provide to all the citizens and the visitors of the country safe and high-quality medical services 24/7. The founder of the Mediterranean Hospital of Cyprus, Dr. Andreas Panayiotou has set as a goal the development and the establishment of a reliable infirmary, with flexible operational mechanisms, in order to gain the trust and recognition for the quality of its services from everybody. Mediterranean Hospital of Cyprus is the first private hospital that joined Cyprus’ General HealthCare System (GHS).
Website: www.medihospital.com.cy/en/
Contact: info@medihospital.com.cy
About I-DANTE LTD
Founded in December of 2019 by Etna Digital Growth (a consultancy- software house company in Italy) and CircleServus LTD (a consultancy company in Cyprus) in order to build digital healthcare solutions leveraging the power of the VeChainThor Blockchain.
Website: www.i-dante.com/
Contact: info@i-dante.com
About VeChain
Launched in 2015, VeChain connects blockchain technology to the real world by providing a comprehensive governance structure, a robust economic model, and IoT integration. VeChain is the pioneer of real-world applications using public blockchain technology, with international operations in Singapore, Luxembourg, Tokyo, Shanghai, Paris, Hong Kong, and San Francisco. Together with our strategic partners PwC and DNV GL, we have established cooperative relations with many leading enterprises in different industries, including Walmart China, BMW, BYD Auto, Haier, H&M, LVMH, D.I.G, ENN, AWS, PICC, ASI etc.
Website: www.vechain.com
Contact: press@vechain.com
Learn more about the project
The 4th episode of VeChain BootCamp will be held on May 22, 22:00 UTC+8. Dimitris Neocleous, the Ecosystem Manager at VeChain EU, will be joined by Christos Panayiotou, Doctor of Medicine & Digital Transformation Consultant at the Mediterranean Hospital of Cyprus, and Ferdinando Chiacchio, Product Manager at I-DANTE LTD, to reveal more details on the blockchain-enabled medical data management platform, The E-NewHealthLife and the E-HCert App.
Register now to join them: https://VeChain.org/bootcamp
