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Healthcare is a big industry with a lot of problems that still need to be solved. Blockchain, on other hands, has pushed the boundary enough to solve its problems. In today’s article, we will discuss some good use cases of blockchain technology in the healthcare industry. To understand its use case, we first need to know how it is valued right now.

Currently, the expenditure per year in the USA alone is $3.55 trillion. By 2025, it will grow to $5.5. However, these number consists of waste wealth as according to Institute of Medicine, almost 20-30% of the expenditure is a waste.

The primary source of excess expenditure comes from the overpriced medical fees, medical fraud, high administrative fees to name the few. Also, it is tough to communicate reports from one place to another. Poor communication, bad budgeting, lack of data, makes health care expensive and not optimal for the population.

Can Blockchain Technology Change Healthcare?

The answer is yes. It can change how healthcare functions and remove frauds from the system. It can also cut operational costs, optimize how data is stored, and also eliminate duplicate work. One more thing that blockchain can help with is improving transparency. All this is only possible because how blockchain technology enables anyone to validate data and preserve it for others use.

So, that we now understand the impact of blockchain technology on healthcare, let’s explore some good use cases below.

5 Use Cases of Blockchain Technology in Healthcare

There are multiple use cases for blockchain technology in healthcare. Let’s list them below.

Billing and claims management. Clinical Data Exchange and Interoperability Cybersecurity and Healthcare IoT. Drug Supply Chain Provenance and Integrity Population health research and Pharma Clinical Trials.

Many startups have already started working on the use cases. This is why we will use some examples when discussing the use cases below.

1. Drug Supply Chain

The supply chain is always a big challenge for any industry. The same is true for healthcare. With blockchain, the whole drug supply chain issue can be improved. One such startup, Farmatrust is working towards a solution for drug supply chain. The aim of the project is to eliminate the abuse of drugs and hence save lives. It will also control the counterfeit drugs that are distributed in the market. Not only that it will make sure you eliminate wasted drugs. Last, but not the least, they will also provide transparency for the drug supply chain. To achieve all of this, a unique ID will be combined a company’s digital supply chain.

2. Clinical Data Exchange and Interoperability

Another critical use of the blockchain relates to clinical data exchange. Medicalchain is a startup that is working towards providing a decentralized platform. The platform will solve the health data exchange problem. It will create a network of data where anyone including laboratories, hospitals, doctors, nurses, etc. can access records. Of Course, permission access will be required to do so. It will also address privacy issues.

3. Billing and claims management

Solve.Care is a unique idea that aims to solve administrative issues for healthcare. This means it will solve processing issues as well as billing and claims management. It is made possible only because of the transparency and integrity that blockchain provides. It will also process payments and ensure that extra billing by entities can be eradicated.

4. Cybersecurity and Heathcare IoT

Healthcare is also a target for cybercriminals, especially when they can lock up the whole database in exchange for money. Data theft is also a severe issue where cybercriminals steal the data and sell it in the market. However, one such startup, Patientory, is on their way to build a blockchain powered health information exchange(HIE) that is HIPPA-compliant. This means that it will be used enhanced cybersecurity protocols and EMR interoperability to secure the important data.

5. Population health research and Pharma Clinical Trials

The last use case that we are going to discuss is the population health research and pharma clinical traits. The main objective of this is to improve the clinical trials. The blockchain initiative will help clinical personals to collaborate worldwide and do population health research. It will say to integrate new data and also preserve old data. This will also help the use of better and faster approvals and regulatory compliance. Right now, no active startup is working on this use case.

Conclusion

This brings us to the end of the article. Do you think we listed good use cases of blockchain for healthcare? If so, comment below and let us know.









