The Emergence of Blockchain in the Healthcare Sector By Healthcare Tech Outlook | Friday, June 28, 2019

The incorporation of blockchain in healthcare operations has introduced revolutionary changes, facilitating better health record management and secure transactions.

FREMONT, CA: The implementation of blockchain has been held back by the uneasiness over the sophisticated nature of cryptography employed in the transaction process. The idea of using complicated numeric keys to access patient records seems rather daunting. For every person advocating the incorporation of blockchain, there has been a skeptic bringing up counter-arguments.

Nevertheless, the emerging technology has paved the way for the development of the programmable currency. It can be utilized to incentivize the patients in getting health screens, dental operation, and also to take part in healthcare research. The use of tokens during health screenings can also help in maintaining patient privacy.

For instance, Dentacoin can be used to incentivize patients to get frequent dental checkups and give more attention to their health. It can also be used to pay clinical trial participants. The Dentacoin token is the first cryptocurrency designed for the dental sector, which has enabled the seamless integration of blockchain in dentistry.

Blockchain enables the creation of permanent and distributable records, which can be shared between peer networks. The decentralized nature of blockchain prevents manipulation of digital events. The most significant advantage of blockchain is its potential to protect the information in the records from data breaches.

The blockchain integration has introduced innovative developments in the healthcare sector, including more efficient record systems, wearable devices, medical examination systems, and so on. According to a recent survey by Hyperledger, around 42.9 percent of healthcare organizations foresee faster blockchain implementation through interoperability of electronic health records, whereas 28.6 percent of the respondents are preparing to adopt blockchain in their operations.

Regardless of the hurdles slowing down blockchain adoption, organizations need to consider the potential benefits. The rising number of patients seeking healthcare has forced healthcare organizations to manage vast data regularly. The increasing data, including patient health information, electronic health records, data from IoT devices, and monitoring systems has made it harder for hospitals and clinics to store and process the data efficiently.

With the incorporation of blockchain, organizations can leverage secure sharing methods which enable the relevant parties to verify the accuracy of the data. The data integrity offered by blockchain makes it impossible to manipulate or move the information in the records. The anchoring of data to public blockchain also enables the users to verify the data timestamp without relying on third parties.