Global Market Outlook on Blockchain Technology (BC)

Healthcare Industry is expected to rollout block chain solutions faster than any other industries by 2018, largely driven by the strong benefits of time, cost, and security. Key use cases expected in 2018 are clinical trial records, regulatory compliance and medical/health records. 

The healthcare industry is aiming for the most aggressive deployments of Block chain, with 35% of health and life sciences planning to be implement by 2018.

Block chain system adoption across healthcare use cases will vary across countries and health systems.

Role of Block Chain in Evolving Healthcare Delivery Models

The capability of BC to securely and robustly construct privacy-preserving distributed model on healthcare data and other service is essential to achieve healthcare delivery priorities beneficial for the entire lifescience ecosystem. The healthcare industry needs to focus on establishing Block chain to foster ecosystem partnerships and create standards or frameworks for future implementation on a large scale across healthcare use cases.

Block chain provides new opportunities to improve existing workflows and introduce new business models.

Block Chain Application in Healthcare Industry Challenge

Healthcare Industry Challenges

  • Establishing a Trust Network depends on the HIE as an intermediary to establish point-to-point sharing and “book-keeping” of what data was exchanged
  • Cost Per Transaction, given low transaction volumes, reduces the business case for central systems or new edge networks for participating groups
  • Master Patient Index (MPI) challenges arise from the need to synchronize multiple patient identifiers between systems while securing patient privacy
  • Varying Data Standards reduce interoperability because records are not compatible between systems
  • Limited Access to Population Health Data, as HIE is one of the few sources of integrated records
  • Regulation Inconsistency inhibit the right health organization from accessing the right patient data at the right time

Block Chain Opportunity 

  • Disintermediation of Trust likely would not require an HIE operator because all participants would have access to the distributed ledger to maintain a secure exchange without complex brokered trust
  • Reduced Transaction Costs due to disintermediation, as well as near-real time processing, would make the system more efficient
  • Distributed framework for patient digital identities, which uses private and public identifiers secured through cryptography, creates a singular, more secure method of protecting patient identity
  • Shared data enables near real-time updates across the network to all parties
  • Distributed, secure access to patient longitudinal health data across the distributed ledger
  • Smart Contracts create a consistent, rule-based method for accessing patient data that can be permissioned to selected health organizations