Healthcare has a myriad of potential implementations of blockchain technology. Anything from secure auditing to reporting is integral to the sector, and these are the things that blockchain excels best at. But where exactly is the best opportunity for blockchain technology in the medical sector?
1. Data records and alerts.
The healthcare sector produces and maintains endless patient records, monitoring and alerts. Anything from a hospital or aged care to a basic medical practice can possess thousands of client records. Medical professionals must access and monitor secure patient information, that cannot be leaked to others under any circumstances, and in many cases has limited permissions.
Blockchain provides a method of data storage on the blockchain that ensures traceability, transparency and data security. Blockchain technology is secure, immutable and ultimately permanent. Only those with select permissions can access the information.
2. Historical patient information.
Many patients want to be able to transfer historical information between doctors in a secure way. It is tiresome and difficult for patients to transfer their own information between practices, filling in forms, potentially forgetting or leaving out information. Blockchain would provide a way of doing this without the hassle, while ensuring that data is secure and only available to certain people for access.
This will ensure that a person’s historical patient information is taken into account when a medical professional makes decisions based on their health.
3. Trustworthy reporting.
It’s particularly a problem in aged care, however lack of efficient reporting is a widespread healthcare problem.
Mistreatment and poor recording have led to many patients’ lives becoming endangered in care. While this treatment is not necessarily the norm, it is prevalent enough that it has become a problem. Many elderly patients in particular are poorly treated in aged care and are unable to express their experiences.
Blockchain would ensure that treatment is recorded accurately so that it is difficult to falsify reports or simply neglect them. A person may falsify information, but this will be visible when auditing the data. Anomalies in data entry or (in the implementation of IoT) general health or routine can easily identify problems with health or care.
Blockhead Technologies is bringing blockchain-enabled solutions into a variety of sectors. To find out more, click here.