Advantages of Blockchain in healthcare
A Blockchain is a collection of blocks that are connected together using a hashing algorithm. Each block contains timestamped recordings of data such as financial, healthcare, sensitive information, and so on. On a decentralised network, the Blockchain network is governed by a group of users. For transparency, all information is visible to all users on a distributed ledger. Cryptographic techniques like RSA-256 are used to encrypt sensitive and secret information. Blockchain is the most talked-about Internet 4.0 technology since it has significantly improved internet security. Because nothing is 100% safe, using Blockchain on your application or services can minimise security breaches by 99 %.The world of computers works with binary digits, which can be hacked with a little decoding, but Blockchain encodes data in a way that is difficult to decode. We'll look at the benefits of Blockchain in the healthcare business in this piece.
Benefits/ Advantages
1. Protecting Patient Information
Securing patient data is the most important aspect of the healthcare industry. Doctors and hospitals may have difficulty identifying the ailment or condition in the patient if patient records are tampered with. Between 2009 and 2017, about 176 million patient records were compromised. Credit card and bank information were stolen and exploited in an unethical manner by the hackers. Blockchain is a tamper-proof, decentralised, and incorruptible technology that makes it easier and safer to access patient data.
2. Management of the Medical Drug Supply Chain
Hospitals do not produce medicines or pharmaceuticals. They're created in laboratories and pharmaceutical businesses all across the world. These medications are then distributed among countries based on their requirements. What happens if the medications are tampered with while being transported across countries? As a result, the medical supply chain must be impenetrable to tampering and visible to importers and exporters. Because Blockchain offers qualities like transparency, decentralisation, and tamper-proofing, it eliminates this problem. Once a distributed ledger for the medicine is constructed, each transporting point from point of origin to destination will be logged into the Blockchain, making the entire process visible.
3. Longitudinal Patient Records in a Single File
Every form of patient record will be recorded into the Blockchain ledger since Blockchain is a chain of blocks. Using Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence, records such as disease history, lab test results, treatment expenses, and so on can aid in anticipating the condition depending on his next visit. Hospitals are able to provide discounts to their patients by reviewing this pre-compiled data. It will also assist in mastering patient indices, allowing records to be meticulously organised and avoiding costly errors.
4) Traceability of drugs
Blockchain is a solid method for ensuring medicine authenticity since it allows every drug to be tracked all the way back to its origins. We can utilise Blockchain to encapsulate data on a medicine over its entire lifespan. Every block containing medication data will include a hash connected to another block as well as an unchangeable timestamp.
The transactions on the Blockchain will be visible to all authorised parties, and the drug's path from one party to another may be followed in real time. By scanning the QR code and checking up information on the manufacturer and other key supply chain participants, medicine purchasers may guarantee the legitimacy of their purchases. It will be nearly hard to distribute a bogus medicine in such a setting.
5)Cryptocurrency transactions
Payment-related Blockchain use cases exist in healthcare. For example, Blockchain enables people to get medical help and pay for it using cryptocurrencies. Aveon Health, a technology-focused medical firm, is one such example. Aveon Health understands the benefits of adopting Bitcoin as a virtual currency. Wallet software allows users to transfer and receive Bitcoins electronically.
Micropayments are another Blockchain-enabled concept. Micropayments are one-of-a-kind value-based models that compensate patients for following their physicians' orders and living the lifestyles suggested by their doctors. This micropayment mechanism will keep track of every aspect of the patient's behaviour during the treatment re-examination and will only operate on a specialised Blockchain.
Conclusion
According to IBM, the improvement of clinical trial administration, offering a decentralised framework and regulatory compliance for exchanging electronic health information, would be the most important consequence of Blockchain in the health industry, according to 70% of healthcare leaders (EHR).
The healthcare industry is a problem-solving, data-driven, and people-intensive industry. For the sector's operations, the capacity to access, alter, & trust the data generated by its activities is vital.
If we divide healthcare operations into triage, health problem-solving, clinical decision-making, realisation, & assessment of knowledge-based care, we can see that achieving the desired health outcomes requires a multidisciplinary team of health experts who use the most up-to-date knowledge of technology & abilities while dealing with the patient.
The actual benefit of interoperability might be unlocked with a Blockchain-based health information system. With Blockchain-based systems, current middlemen's friction & expenditures may be decreased or eliminated.