Healthcare differs vastly on the global scale. Some countries have state sponsored healthcare, others privatized, some hybrid, and still others have little access to care. These variations prove that healthcare is complex, especially when delivered to massive populations.

This complexity has only been accentuated in the digital era, as the healthcare industry works to translate old processes into digital systems, all while trying to deliver a high quality of care.

The challenges that have arisen from this transition, along with inefficiencies in various healthcare systems, have given rise to a host of technology startups that hope to use blockchain to solve some of the industry’s greatest shortcomings.

These companies hope that distributed ledger technologies (DLTs) are the answer to healthcare data problems. They are also ambitiously designing cryptocurrencies designed to change the way we transact with care providers. Read on to learn how blockchain is being developed for healthcare applications and what opportunities still remain for further innovation.

CATEGORY #1: HEALTHCARE DATA/EHR

A major problem facing medical practitioners in the digital era is sharing information without violating HIPAA. For example, one medical practitioner might want to share patient data with another professional at a different site to assist with treatment. If they operate on different Electronic Health Record systems (EHRs) then they may be forced to use a third-party app. The trouble is, these apps may not secure the patient’s data according to HIPAA and other privacy regulations. As such, a layer of interoperability is needed for EHRs, along with a new way of tracing the sharing of patient data to hold everyone accountable and keep patients safe.

This is where blockchain can help. Since blockchain can be used as a protocol or interoperability layer, it may be useful in helping disparate systems talk to one another. Additionally, it can create a transparent, yet secure, path for patient data. These companies are using blockchain to help revolutionize patient data management and EHR systems.

Humanscape is a blockchain-powered health data platform that also incorporates a native token to facilitate participation. Their aim is to make health data sharing more secure with the blockchain to help increase the sharing of diagnostic and research data, which should accelerate treatment and reduce the occurrence of disease.

Founded: Mar 3, 2016

Funding type: Private

Patientory is a blockchain-powered application designed to securely store and manage health information in real time, giving users control of their medical data. The Patientory Association is a non-profit membership organization founded to accelerate education around the development of new technologies and applications, especially in the fields of open-sourced distributed ledger technologies (DLTs) and decentralized software architectures. They also launched an ICO, and their token is still available for exchange.

Founded: 2015

Funding type: Non-profit

Alphacon is creating a blockchain-powered big data platform for healthcare. Their goal is to leverage big data to gain healthcare insights that previously were hidden in siloed databases. They aim to achieve this by creating a distributed ledger platform that can make the data more accessible.

AzaadHealth is an online HIPAA-compliant platform that allows healthcare providers and patients to share medical information. Healthcare data currently exists in silos, and AzaadHealth’s aim is to provide a blockchain-powered, HIPAA-compliant platform for better data sharing between patients and providers.

Founded: Aug 1, 2016

Funding type: Private

ConsilX is a blockchain-powered platform designed to give clinical trial participants better trial experiences, and pharma companies a more unified and transparent clinical trial management system. Their blockchain platform, LifeLedger, aims to secure participant data, while using timestamps on the blockchain to help record trial results in an immutable fashion.

Founded: May 2017

Funding type: Private

Medvice provides AI-supported triage & tele-medicine software for emergency & urgent care centers and for clients at home. Their in-clinic triaging system screens for medical emergencies, while their at-home app facilitates direct, personalized doctor e-consultations. Their EHR system leverages blockchain to secure patient information.

Founded: Jul 1, 2017

Funding type: Private

Shivom is a platform that leverages blockchain, AI, DNA sequencing, & cryptography to enable secure and personalized medical data management. They’re aiming to create a health data ecosystem by creating a web-marketplace, a network of genomic counselors, and a not-for-profit drug research unit that helps provide a safer and more full service genomic marketplace.

Founded: Jan 2017

Funding type: Private

MediBloc is a decentralized, blockchain-powered healthcare data platform that is working to break down the current silos of health information and redistribute the sovereignty of health data back to the owner of that data, the patient.

Founded: 2017

Funding type: Private

Iryo is creating an open-source EHR platform with a zero-knowledge data repository. They are enabling a truly patient-driven approach to how the world accesses and utilizes medical records. They are leveraging blockchain to safely store and share medical data, while providing a more open approach to EHR management.

Founded: 2017

Funding type: Private

Open Health Network is using a blockchain platform to help consumers control and monetize their medical data. They leverage blockchain to create a HIPAA-compliant data sharing paradigm among various players in the healthcare ecosystem.

Founded: Feb 14, 2013

Funding type: Private

Founded in 2017, Private.

MintHealth is a global decentralized health platform that empowers patients with a self-sovereign health identity and aligns patients, providers, and payers to battle the global pandemic of chronic disease. They facilitate EHR interoperability to coordinate care and drive more effective patient outcomes while reducing overhead and burden on provider resources.

Founded: 2017

Funding type: Private

Curisium is a healthcare technology company using blockchain to provide scalable contracting solutions. They are working to provide tailored solutions for payers, providers, and life science companies to enter into patient-centric, secure, efficient, innovative contracting arrangements.

Founded: 2017

Funding type: Private

MedBlox is a decentralized, secure, fully encrypted, and legally compliant means of exchanging electronic health information. Their platform enables collaboration between providers, health systems / groups, affiliates, researchers, and consumers both locally and globally. They leverage blockchain technology to decentralize electronic medical data.

Founded: Feb 18, 2018

Funding type: Private

SimplyVital Health is working to make decentralized technology accessible to the healthcare industry by creating Health Nexus, a healthcare-safe open source blockchain. SVH is a full-service, global company that builds and sells healthcare enterprise software, and is working to build the infrastructure for blockchain in healthcare.

Founded: 2017

Funding type: Private

Gainfy is a healthcare platform that aims to use blockchain, AI, and predictive analytics for scheduling, telemedicine, digital payments, identity verifications, and electronic medical records management. They use gamification, deep learning, and financial incentives to help users save money on medical cost and be in control of their data.

Founded: 2016

Funding type: Private

Blockchain Health is creating technology to better secure, permission, and share private health data that passes through your phone. Their aim is to improve clinical trials using blockchain, leveraging the immutability of distributed ledger technology to improve the way we secure and share health data.

Founded: Mar, 2016

Funding type: Private

Solve.Care’s platform is designed to simplify access to care, reduce administrative steps and burden, and simplify and speed up payments to healthcare providers globally using blockchain technology. They leverage blockchain to reduce the global clinical and IT system costs associated with existing healthcare systems.

MedChain is creating a new healthcare ecosystem enabling a secure dApp infrastructure for health record storage. Patient dApps built on the MedChain platform are being developed for iOS and Android smartphones, tablets, and desktop. Their goal is to provide users with the most up-to-date information, including medical test results, medical history, and documentation that patients are entitled to under HIPAA and EMR guidelines.

Founded: Nov 15, 2017

Funding type: Private

Etheal is building a reputation management platform through the use of token incentives to help create a global network of vetted and reviewed physicians. Their hope is to help travelers and people new to a region identify qualified physicians who have received positive reviews from other Etheal users.

Founded: Sep 2017

Funding type: Private

CATEGORY #2: MONETIZING PATIENT DATA

Currently, data gleaned from medical services delivered, or patient health conditions, doesn’t financially benefit the patient in any way. The only people who benefit financially from their health data are people who participate in medical trials, which are often very cumbersome to their health. Blockchain-based solutions could help patients earn money from their personal medical data. By placing that data in a wallet to which only they have the key, patients could share their medical data with approved parties and get rewarded with cryptocurrency for doing so. These companies are developing blockchain solutions designed to give patients control over who uses their data, while giving them an opportunity to monetize it.

The Health Information Traceability (HIT) Foundation exists to help secure health data while participating in a more open marketplace that fosters healthcare innovation. Through the use of private keys and smart contracts, HIT Foundation hopes to restore the control of health data to patients, while giving them opportunities to financially benefit from securely sharing their data with researchers, hospitals, pharma companies, etc.

Founded: 2017

Translo is using blockchain to accelerate the sharing of data in biomedical research. Currently, biomedical research occurs in silos, and key discoveries are made that researchers don’t share because they want to receive credit for publishing first. By placing discoveries and medical data on the blockchain, Translo hopes to provide a platform for sharing biomedical data in a decentralized, secure, efficient, and permissioned manner.

Founded: July 18, 2018

Funding type: Private

Betterpath is an existing healthcare data and software provider working to provide a blockchain-powered EHR and health data sharing platform. Betterpath also works on improving the effectiveness of HSAs for the insured, and is exploring ways that blockchain can improve healthcare outcomes by facilitating better data sharing.

Founded: 2013

Funding type: Private

Citizen Health is a public benefit company utilizing blockchain technology. Their product, Humantiv, is a health operating system designed to optimize health & wellness by incentivizing people to pursue healthy lifestyles through behavioral cryptoeconomics.

Founded: Jan 1, 2017

Funding type: Private

CoverUS joins the growing number of companies working to help users monetize their health data. By connecting health data to the CoverUS app, users can sync devices, and begin earning financial rewards for answering health surveys, adhering to doctor's orders, and helping to grow the community. CoverUS uses blockchain to secure all of this data and prevent its abuse.

Founded: Apr 11, 2018

Funding type: Private

MediChain is a medical big data platform. They leverage blockchain to help patients store their own medical data off-chain in an appropriate geographic domain. Their aim is to give users control of their data and to allow them to share it anonymously with scientists working to develop treatments and cures, providing big data to revolutionize treatment development. Users get rewarded by pharmaceutical companies, researchers, and insurers.

Bowhead Health is an encrypted wellness tracker and personalized health app designed for individuals who want to take control of their health data and outcomes. Their token helps users lease their wellness data to interested parties and researchers.

Founded: 2015

Funding type: Private

CATEGORY #3: GENOMIC DATA

More and more people are using services like 23andMe and Ancestry.com’s popular genetic testing kits to gain information about their familial origins, as well as gain helpful insights on their unique health propensities. Even if they chose not to share that data for scientific research, they are essentially giving their entire genetic profile to a centralized institution that is vulnerable to hacking and theft. We’ve become all too familiar with how easy it seems to hack and steal data from these institutions. And sure, it’s a pain when someone gets your credit card number, but you can replace that. You can’t just get a new genetic code when someone steals it from one of these companies.

Additionally, for users who opt to share their data, there is no way for them to monetize the use of their genomic information. That’s where these companies are trying to make a difference. Using blockchain’s cryptographically secured networks, these genomics companies are working to secure people’s DNA, while giving them a chance to be compensated with crypto every time their information is used.

DNAtix is a platform designed to take genetic services and data analysis and make it more secure with cryptographic protections using blockchain technology. As more and more people gain access to their genetic data, many are seeking ways to safely store that data, to only share it with approved partners, or in the case of volunteering it for research, to anonymize it. DNAtix hopes to be the platform to help secure and make use of genetic data.

Founded: 2014

Funding type: Private

Zenome is a non-profit organization that aims to raise awareness on genomic medicine and provide a platform for DNA exchange. Zenome is building a distributed genomic market, based on a P2P network and blockchain technology. Their goal is to put users in control of their genetic data. The fairness of data exchanges is enforced. They use smart contracts and dedicated tokens (ZNA) to enforce fairness and drive participation in genomic data exchanges.

Founded: June 2017

Funding type: Non-profit

Nebula Genomics is a human genome sequencing and health big data company using blockchain to ensure that consumers maintain control of their data and are compensated for its use. Nebula gives users complete control of their data. They can choose to keep it private or they can get rewarded for securely and anonymously sharing with medical researchers.

Founded: 2016

Funding type: Private

EncrypGen is building a peer-to-peer marketplace to buy and sell genomic data and health science products and services. If you’ve ever used a service like 23andMe, you are entrusting your genomic data to a centralized institution, which can easily be hacked. Similarly, you have no control over who they share that data with. EncrypGen is using blockchain to secure participant genomic data and help people benefit financially when they share their information with researchers.

Blüpass is an ERC-20 utility token that joins the growing number of EHR companies working to improve EHR management through the use of blockchain. They also hope to leverage blockchain for other healthcare applications, like claims service, policy and premium verification, etc.

Founded: 2017

Funding type: Private

CATEGORY #4: HEALTHCARE CRYPTOCURRENCIES

Let’s face it, paying for healthcare sucks. It’s never fun spending hard-earned money on healthcare that is free in other locales. And the process of making payments is terrible as well. Complexities like billing departments, opaque pricing models, and hidden fees make people feel like they need a lawyer and a personal accountant to manage their medical bills. Blockchain and cryptocurrencies could help solve this, however, by creating better billing systems and more streamlined and direct methods of payment. These companies are working to launch cryptocurrencies designed for the healthcare sector, and to simplify payments for providers and patients alike.

Docademic is a video healthcare and telemedicine platform that has launched a cryptocurrency (MTC) to help facilitate payments. They are working toward building an ecosystem of partners that will accept MTC as a form of payment for medical services.

Founded: June 12, 2012

Funding type: Private

Dentacoin is working to streamline the global dental industry through the use of a cryptocurrency reward mechanism, along with a token tailored to meet both patient and provider needs. Their aim is to use crypto rewards to reward providers for preventative care measures and long-term dental health outcomes.

Founded: Mar 2017

Funding type: Private

Mosio, a 10-year-old healthcare software provider, has stepped into the blockchain world with Clinicoin. Clinicoin aims to improve global health and wellness by connecting patients, providers, and developers via an open source blockchain patient engagement platform. Enhanced by a token-based rewards ecosystem, it pays users for healthy behaviors while increasing engagement with healthcare practitioners and organizations.

Founded: Aug 10, 2007

Funding type: Private

With WELL’s blockchain solutions, individual data privacy, payments for service, and smart contracts help to facilitate cross-border charitable assistance without a central authority. They will be leveraging WELL tokens to help facilitate cross-border payments, increase the accessibility of healthcare data, and reduce risk within the industry.

Founded: 2015

Funding type: Private

CoinHealth is building a cryptocurrency designed to serve the healthcare industry. They hope to use blockchain to store medical records, such as recent vitals, laboratory and radiology reports, X-rays, MRIs, and even scanned images, such as sonograms and ultrasounds, for family members. Their EHR system also holds important documents, such as advance directives, insurance policies, and wills, making sure all critical health information is secure, and accessible anywhere in the world.

CATEGORY #5: PROVENANCE & MEDICAL HISTORIES

In our current paradigm, it’s difficult for doctors to trace back a patient’s medical history, along with a history of treatment they have received. Additionally, it’s hard to track where medicines come from in certain regions, and how much someone might have used. Blockchain is an ideal solution for these issues, because it provides a lasting digital ledger of a patient’s entire medical history, a drug’s journey from manufacture to bottle, or the amount of times a patient has used a potentially dangerous or addictive narcotic. These companies are working to implement blockchain solutions for those exact purposes.

Proof Work is a decentralized, blockchain-secured platform and ledger for personal ownership, interoperability, and a lifetime history of care. They aim to make health data more private by making it a digital passport, giving users permission-based access control. Rights can be granted or traded to either another patient, payer, or provider, such as a doctor, insurer, hospital, pharmacy, nurse, caregiver, family, or friend.

Founded: May 1, 2017

Funding type: Private

BlockMedx is providing a secure, HIPAA-compliant, end-to-end solution for transmitting DEA Controlled Drug prescriptions, such as prescription opioid pain relievers and others, from physicians to pharmacies using the Ethereum blockchain. Their goal is to use blockchain to prevent opioid overuse by ensuring end-to-end drug provenance and tracking.

Founded: 2017

Funding type: Private

Spiritus is using blockchain to transparently track the maintenance of vital medical support devices. Countless patients rely on medical devices to keep them healthy, track their health data, and improve their quality of life. It is imperative that these devices are maintained up to industry standards; however, patients and practitioners don’t always have visibility on maintenance records. Spiritus is using blockchain to create an immutable maintenance record so patients can be confident in the devices they rely on.

Founded: 2016

Funding type: Private

The Meditect solution uses blockchain technology to trace and authenticate the provenance of medicines throughout the entire supply chain. Their goal is to use blockchain to eliminate counterfeit medicines and to help automate compliance with track-and-trace regulations.

Want more blockchain in healthcare content?

Read: Blockchain in Healthcare: 6 Possible Use Cases