Blockchain technology is just beginning to creep into healthcare, with recent examples like Change Healthcare’s new solution and a state-level partnership between Illinois and Hashed Health. What’s going to hold up its adoption is if hospitals and health systems aren’t willing to help create the intensive infrastructure required to make the system work.
Allowing providers to put information about patient encounters into a secure, decentralized electronic ledger could get around interoperability issues like the 26 different electronic health record systems used in the city of Boston. The MIT Technology Review writes the benefits of streamlining the sharing of health information are clear. How to build that technical infrastructure specifically for healthcare is not.
“There may be specific rules we want to bake into the protocol to make it better for healthcare,” said Emily Vaughn, head of accounts at blockchain startup Gem. “The system must facilitate the exchange of complex health information between patients and providers, for example, as well as exchanges between providers and between providers and payers—all while remaining secure from malicious attacks and complying with privacy regulations.”
Read the full article at the link below:
John joined TriMed in 2016, focusing on healthcare policy and regulation. After graduating from Columbia College Chicago, he worked at FM News Chicago and Rivet News Radio, and worked on the state government and politics beat for the Illinois Radio Network. Outside of work, you may find him adding to his never-ending graphic novel collection.