Top 3 Blockchain Use Cases that Will Revolutionize Healthcare for Years to Come

There’s no denying that the scope of Blockchain in the healthcare sector is mountainous, considering its rapid evolution and widespread adoption by hospitals & physicians worldwide.

With all cylinders firing, the tech has evolved into the most promising yet practical solution that can give some relief to health professionals – from skyrocketing administrative costs, and inefficient practices to persistent data breaches.

Beyond that, it possesses the potential to solve some of the industry’s most pressing issues concerning compliance, interoperability, and data security.

While some Blockchain-based healthcare solutions and applications are already being adopted in practice, others are currently being developed, and certainly bigger and brighter innovations are waiting to be discovered.

As far as traction is concerned, there’s a prediction that if companies across the world continue to invest heavily in Blockchain projects, then the healthcare industry would experience a steep rise from $34.47 million to $1415.59 million in terms of revenue by 2024.

Added to that, it’s also estimated that the CAGR growth of the medicine industry would reach 70.45 percent between 2018 and 2024.

To put it simply, Blockchain has an immensely bright future in healthcare, and there’s no sign of that impetus slowing down any time soon.

In this blog post, we will analyze where Blockchain is likely to be incorporated into the healthcare domain and how DLT-integrated healthcare apps might look like. So, without wasting any more time, let’s get going.

Blockchain and Healthcare – A Potential Roadmap to Sanity 

While some Blockchain-based healthcare solutions and applications are already being adopted in practice, others are currently being developed, and certainly bigger and brighter innovations are waiting to be discovered.

Here’s a rundown of the most promising use cases for Blockchain tech in the healthcare domain:

Use Case #1: Drug Traceability

Problem

Drug counterfeiting is undoubtedly a critical issue worldwide. Based on a recent report by Deloitte, counterfeit medicines are responsible for 250,000 to 500,000 deaths every year, and this number is only set to rise in the coming years.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has given a strong warning against the use of such medicines, stating that around 16 percent of these drugs contain erroneous ingredients while 17 percent contain inadequate levels of essential ingredients.

The major concern with these drugs isn’t the fact that they are fake or substandard but rather that they can be completely different from the original product, both in terms of quantity and quality.

In fact, most of these drugs don’t even contain the active ingredients they claim to do, which can be deadly for patients, as it won’t treat the disease it is supposed to do, thereby leaving patients in despair and agony.

Solution

Blockchain is the perfect remedy to drug counterfeiting. Not only it can help companies track the provenance of the raw material supplied to the drug manufacturer, but also trace the finished medicines or drugs across the supply chain to brokers, distributors, and retailers.

In technical terms, every time a new transaction is performed on a Blockchain, the transaction data is stored in a new block (in the form of a forgery-proof record) which is immutable and timestamped. Once a ledger for a drug or medicine is created, it will automatically indicate the point of origin (for instance, a laboratory).

The ledger will then continue to record the data all the way through the healthcare supply chain, from the time a product is manufactured and packaged until it reaches the consumer.

Here’s a glimpse of how Blockchain can be used for drug traceability:

Image Credits: Anca Petre

Long story short, pharmaceutical companies can utilize Blockchain to authenticate raw materials that constitute a drug and create an airtight circuit impermeable to counterfeit products.

Use Case #2: Clinical Trials

Problem

A clinical trial involves different groups of people and huge chunks of data (with different structures) such as health reports, statistics, blood tests, surveys, medical imagery, etc.

When a patient switches from one general practitioner or healthcare provider to other, the probability of data loss becomes extremely high, which can often lead to a decrease in the data value and usability.

Beyond that, there are chances of fraud which may include modifying or hiding data that could compromise the advancement of clinical trials and damage the image or reputation of a company among regulatory agencies or patients.

Solution

Most healthcare corporations around the world prefer conducting their own research and clinical trials on various new medicines and pharmaceutical products.

It’s possible that these trials might be scattered across multiple databases and systems that are often incompatible, probably because of certain differences in the structure of the data itself or due to the complex architecture of the system.

Blockchain can assist patients, healthcare providers, and clinicians in creating a single global database to collect, store, and manage all the necessary information in one place.

In simpler terms, with Blockchain technology, data can be decentralized and effectively distributed to other stakeholders or entities in the healthcare space, while at the same time, protecting certain aspects of the patient’s privacy.

Here’s a sneak peek into how Blockchain can be utilized for clinical trials:

Image Credits: BMC

With the intent of getting stored on the Blockchain, the clinical trial data first goes through a SHA256 calculator which provides a hash, i.e. a unique code specific to the content of the document, be it a trial protocol, informed consent forms, biological results, or any other type of document.

Even a minute change in the original document could result in getting a completely different hash.

Use Case #3: Patient Data Management

Problem

The existing healthcare system lacks interoperability, which is a massive issue as it leads to duplicative work, poor patient experience, and countless medical errors.

If truth be told, there are two main issues concerning patient data management in the healthcare industry.

First, there is no such thing as a common treatment strategy or “a one-size fits all approach” for patients, no matter what disease they might suffer from. Every patient is unique, and therefore, needs a different and individualized approach.

Second, sharing critical patient information among the medical community is always a major challenge.

Without a doubt, technology has given us the incredible power to take everything online in a matter of seconds via social networking, however, it’s always perilous to use social networks for sharing patient data as it is prone to tampering.

To bring to your notice, medical data is sensitive, and thus, it’s always recommended to share it via secured and trusted networks. Added to that, another obstacle in the way is the “lack of secure structure for sharing data”. Medical records are kept in different locations, and the biggest downside is that “there’s no common database”.

Solution

Blockchain is the best possible solution as far as patient data management is concerned. Thanks to its decentralized nature, Blockchain provides a well-organized structure for both data sharing and data security.

Let’s talk about it in detail.

First, healthcare providers collect the necessary information from the patient, which include the patient name, date of birth, complete medical history, health reports, procedures performed, medicines prescribed, etc.

The data is stored in the company’s existing databases and/or in the company cloud, based on their preference.

Then, from each source of data, a hash is created, which gets redirected to the Blockchain along with the patient’s public ID. Then begins the role of Smart Contracts in healthcare management.

It is basically used for 3 main purposes:

• For encrypting health/medical reports;
• For identifying actions performed on sent data;
• And, for revoking access to violated data.

Source: Booz Allen Hamilton

Unearthing Blockchain’s biggest advantage in healthcare: it allows patients to control the access they give to their medical records. All in all, the patient will have complete control over their medical records and can discretely decide whom to share it with.

The Road Ahead

To conclude, keeping all factors in consideration, it can be stated that the road ahead for Blockchain in Healthcare is perhaps a promising one.

Long story short, Blockchain has evolved significantly since its inception and has disrupted every domain, and healthcare is no different.

Today, it has become the go-to technology for virtually every business, thanks to its decentralized framework, immutable & tamper-proof nature, and the security & authenticity it offers.

Looking to integrate Blockchain into your healthcare business? Seek the services of a reliable and result-oriented healthcare app development company.

For more insights into robust Blockchain-based healthcare solutions, get a consultation now.