Holly Fletcher

hfletcher@tennessean.com

The underlying technology behind the digital currency Bitcoin is piquing interest in corners of Nashville's health care sector, thanks to its potential to upend the way data is shared.

Blockchain, a distributed database that records transactions, can be tough for people to grasp, but with understanding often comes a sense of excitement about the possibilities, experts said. It's a way to securely transfer things of value — such as data or currency — without a middleman, said Corey Todaro, director of research and analytics at Martin Ventures.

"It's not an incremental improvement. This is a new way of transferring data and governing data, which I think is fundamentally different from the way we've been doing it. The possibility excites me," Todaro said.

Distributed:Health, a recent conference hosted by Nashville-based BTC Media, which produces trade publications on Bitcoin and blockchain, brought in a few hundred blockchain experts and enthusiasts from around the world — for a short time exploding the number of people in Nashville thinking about new uses for the technology.

Todaro said he can count on "two hands, probably" the number of people in Nashville who are interested and they've been meeting informally in bars and coffee shops to talk about ideas and catch up on news.

"It's not even cutting edge; I call it the 'bleeding edge.' It's so new it's just not well known yet," Todaro said.

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In the historical model, physicians hold patient records, although they are now being asked to share the records electronically. Blockchain, in one example, would allow patients to be in control of their medical data and choose with whom, and for how long, to share it, Todaro said.

Kristen Johns, an attorney at Waller, is getting more interest from clients who want to understand how it could work into or transform their business.

Johns tries to pull blockchain away from its affiliation with Bitcoin — the digital currency widely known for a few breaches and its relationship with the Winklevoss twins. Blockchain itself is secure; it's the applications built on top of it that can be hacked, Johns said.

"These conversations are really exciting and fun because it’s new," Johns said. "It’s not an understatement to stay there is some exhilaration or delirium. It’s very, very exciting.”

Corralling data and finding ways to quickly exchange and parse it is central to the future of health care, which produces data at nearly every step of care.

Charlie Martin, the health care leader who founded Martin Ventures, is keen on blockchain and seeing it take root in Nashville, which could emerge as a leader in health care information technology. He delivered a keynote at the recent conference.

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The technology is taking root in the financial services industry, and some want more leaders in health care to take cues from those usages.

There are under-the-radar projects going on in a few companies as executives and HIT leaders try out usages. More than 70 papers on the potential for blockchain were submitted to a challenge by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology.

But how it takes hold, and at which companies, in Nashville's industry remains to be seen — conversations are expected to happen primarily in learning sessions and small meetings for the immediate future.

"I think they'll come around. I think if international banks can get comfortable with it anyone can," Todaro said. "We're going to see a dance about whether the health care industry is ready to engage with individual development companies."

Reach Holly Fletcher at 615-259-8287 and on Twitter @hollyfletcher.

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