Blockchain: Technological Solution to the Healthcare Industry
Healthcare, one of the most economically vital industries worldwide, is rapidly growing with about 1.3 million health workers globally. Moreover, it is expected to grow at an annual rate of 8.9% with a market value of about 11,000 billion dollars by 2022.
Though experiencing great growth, it is accounted that the technological advancements with the industry are not growing as much as the positive numbers. The industry is still hurdling with issues that have the potential to be solved with the help of Blockchain technology.
Doesn’t this sound interesting? Let’s find out the possibilities that Blockchain has to offer concerning the healthcare industry.
EMERGING ISSUES IN HEALTHCARE INDUSTRY
Drug Traceability
According to the Health Research Funding Organization (HRFO), approximately 10–30% of drugs, in developing countries, are corrupt replicas of the genuine product. Such products rather than curing tend to be harmful to the patient’s health. Due to drug counterfeit, every year the US healthcare industry loses up to $200 billion.
Incoherent cost
Patient’s healthcare bills come from various sources like- hospitals, pharmaceuticals, and laboratories. It becomes problematic for the patient to put this cost incoherence. Thus, the problem is not only bored by the patient but also the providers of the services as they are not paid timely.
Medical Records
Healthcare Industry involves a lot of record-keeping. With every medical proceeding, prescriptions and documents increase thus increases records. Therefore, record keeping becomes a necessary but unmanageable task. A slight misuse, mistake, or loss of these records can result in severe health complications.
WHAT’S BLOCKCHAIN
Tremendously trending topic, Blockchain is proving to be a solution to many sectors, so why not- Healthcare Industry. Before we get to possible solutions that Blockchain can offer to Healthcare Industry, let us understand what Blockchain is.
In simpler words, a blockchain is a set of blocks, which is a record of new transactions. Upon execution of a block, another block adjacent to it is added to the chain of previously created blocks. In this manner, a large system of blocks with facts is created, where information is stored and can be accessed anytime.
BLOCKCHAIN’S POSSIBLE REDEMPTION IN HEALTHCARE INDUSTRY
Medication Reconciliation
Statistically, the global cost of medical error is 42 billion dollars. There are about 1.3 million people injured in the United States due to medication errors. Moreover, on average, one person dies daily due to the issues in medical records.
Medical reconciliation is the process to keep the medical records, history, and other medical information of the patient unified and secured. This could be difficult as a lot of people might have to be involved to extract this data.
Blockchain has made it easier. Through Blockchain, all the history of the patient can be collected, checked, and stored at one place that is the decentralized network. Because of the appending nature of Blockchain, there will be no mishandling or misuse of the data. This will also be available at any point of time without hustling through middlemen. Digital Treasury Corporation is one of the examples of medical reconciliation through Blockchain.
Efficient Cost
Medical bills are generated from many sources like hospitals, test laboratories, insurance companies, pharmaceuticals, and other sources leading to confusion and burden for the patient. Either these bills are delayed or not paid. This leads to the inefficiency of services against the cost.
With the help of Blockchain, estimation and comprehensibility of the cost could be made easier. All the generated expenses can be put together in one place, resulting in one lump-sum amount with various classification. This would help the patient understand the divisibility of the expenses better which will also result in inefficient services. Change Healthcare and Smartpay Solutions are examples of such a strategy.
Drug Transparency
According to the WHO, Asia, South America, and Africa circulate more than 30% of forged drugs whereas some countries in Europe circulate about 20% fake drugs. From 120,000 to 1 million patients die per year due to the counterfeited drugs.
Applying Blockchain to the issue could help in controlling the production of counterfeited drugs. Through Blockchain, one could trace the production of medicines at manufacturers, to the warehouse, shipping, logistics, till the hospitals making sure the supply of the right medicines.
EXPERT’S WORDS
Blockchains will help deliver newfound transparency about data governance and usage in healthcare over the next year.
— Andrew Hoppin, CEO and Co-founder of CoverUS
A permissible blockchain driven by the patient may be the answer to getting to the trends shaping the discussion of population health management, dynamic diagnosing as well as fraud and abuse.
— Michael Dershem, CEO and Founder of MAPay
CONCLUSION
Summing up, one may infer that with the rapid development of blockchain, the healthcare industry is becoming blockchain-oriented with many big firms in the sphere implementing it within their businesses. From pharmaceutical companies to hospitals and healthcare institutions, the application of blockchain will lead to faster and more efficient results.
Compelling. Isn’t it?
Written By: Ayushi Jain (ayushi@wharfstreetstrategies.com)
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