{"id":3855,"date":"2018-08-30T16:24:04","date_gmt":"2018-08-30T16:24:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/803.557.mywebsitetransfer.com\/?p=3855"},"modified":"2019-07-26T19:38:35","modified_gmt":"2019-07-26T19:38:35","slug":"healthcare-and-blockchain-technology-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pwer.com\/?p=3855","title":{"rendered":"Healthcare and Blockchain Technology (Part 2)"},"content":{"rendered":"

In Part 2<\/em> of our Health and Blockchain series, we will explore more about what makes Distributive Ledger Technology (DLT) so special. \u00a0Today, there are two models for blockchains, Public and Private. \u00a0The Public blockchains are accessible and readable by the public, making them widely used by cryptocurrencies. \u00a0Private blockchains have been proposed for secure business and government use. \u00a0Most of the potential healthcare applications are going to be private, as any public use would have to de-identified of personal health information (PHI).<\/p>\n

One of the fascinating features of the blockchain is that each block contains a cryptographic hash of the previous block, a timestamp, and transaction data generally represented as a Merkle tree root hash (see link below).<\/p>\n

By design, and fundamental to the technology, the blockchain is resistant to modification of the data. \u00a0If an open design, the open distributed ledger will record transactions between two parties efficiently and in a verifiable and permanent way. \u00a0Efficiency is maybe an exaggeration, as the process of verifying the transaction requires a minimum number of independent third-party confirmations. \u00a0In cryptocurrencies, this is how the \u201cminers\u201d provide the \u201cproof of work\u201d they get paid for in newly minted \u201ccoins.\u201d<\/p>\n

I will elaborate a little on the \u201cdistributive part.\u201d \u00a0In creating a distributed ledger, a blockchain is typically managed by a peer-to-peer network collectively adhering to a protocol for inter-node communication and validation of new blocks. \u00a0Once validated and recorded, the data in any given block cannot be altered retroactively without alteration of all subsequent blocks, which requires consensus of the network majority.<\/p>\n

As noted above, you can have a public or a private \u201cpeer-to-peer network.\u201d Imagine a healthcare community in a city, county or state composing of hospitals, insurance companies and healthcare districts all becoming part of that network.<\/p>\n

I believe one of the most fascinating and attractive characteristics of the blockchain records is that they are unalterable. \u00a0Blockchains are today considered secure by design and exist only in a distributed computing environment with a high \u201cByzantine Fault Tolerance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Getting back to the main subject, we are exploring the potential uses of Blockchain Technology (BTC) and Distributive Ledger Technology (DLT) in healthcare.<\/p>\n

We are not going to discuss much about the common uses of BTC and DLT, and certainly not cryptocurrencies, as that is not our expertise. \u00a0We are focused on healthcare and the potential application of this new technology in our industry.<\/p>\n

We see various potential uses for DLT in healthcare along with other probable industries. \u00a0These industries likely will include supply chain management, inventory management and distribution, along with application in stock and bond ledger maintenance. \u00a0The World Bank is already exploring the bond ledger in DLT, today, so that is not theoretical.<\/p>\n

Some in healthcare believe that the DLT, in particular a derivative of the blockchain \u201cSmart Contracts\u201d that allows for automatic execution of contractual arrangements, could be used by insurance companies in transactions dealing with insurance coverage and preauthorization for care. \u00a0Frankly, although it might be a good idea, it is not practical. \u00a0Insurance companies and payors are not going to have anything that moves total control of medical payments to automation.<\/p>\n

Our healthcare industry is still in the early stages of digitization and the BTC is definitely a \u2018bridge too far\u2019 in the relationship between payors and providers today. \u00a0In some cases, BTC can impact healthcare now, however in other cases the change will be coming in the next decade, not in the next few months. <\/u><\/p>\n

As a recent confirmation to this point, Seema Verma, the Administrator of The Center for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) on August 6, 2018, delivered a speech that noted, \u201c75% of all medical communications are still done via fax machine.\u201d<\/em> \u00a0The CMS Administrator set a goal of eliminating fax machines in healthcare by 2020.<\/p>\n

Other potential uses of DLT in healthcare will likely be provider credentialing and provider directories. \u00a0I suspect that these changes will be slow coming, especially in credentialing; however, it will happen eventually. \u00a0The reason some of these changes will not be quick is because there are acceptable solutions today and additional regulations at the state and federal levels would have to be implemented.<\/p>\n

Some believe that DLT has applications in clinical trials, health information exchanges, and even Electronic Healthcare Records (EHRs). \u00a0We will address these potential uses in future blogs.<\/p>\n

Other potential uses of Blockchain Technology in healthcare is in the use of the Internet of Things (IoT) and their potential connection to EHRs. \u00a0We have considerable passion and patents in that space. \u00a0We think that other protocols are likely to have a faster impact, in particular better use of the international Health Level 7 (HL-7<\/strong>) protocols and related Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resource (FHIR<\/strong>) that is the basis of new uses in EHR interoperability.<\/p>\n

We are confident that DLT will impact healthcare and will be a huge opportunity in the internationalization of healthcare information of patients. \u00a0We also believe that a DLT can shift basic information management to the consumer of care. \u00a0In fact, we are certain that a hybrid model of EHR that is both in and out of the blockchain is very likely and warranted. \u00a0Some companies have identified that space, and some have even completed Initial Coin Offerings (ICO), a method to raise capital for enterprise, that may or may not use Blockchain Technology, including one developed by a company that has built a U.S. certified EHR platform.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.investopedia.com\/terms\/b\/blockchain.asp<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Blockchain<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/en.m.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Merkle_tree<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In Part 2 of our Health and Blockchain series, we will explore more about what makes Distributive Ledger Technology (DLT) so special. \u00a0Today, there are two models for blockchains, Public and Private. \u00a0The Public blockchains are accessible and readable by the public, making them widely used by cryptocurrencies. \u00a0Private blockchains have been proposed for secure business and government use. \u00a0Most of the potential healthcare applications are going to be private, as any public use would have to de-identified of personal health information (PHI). One of the fascinating features of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":3860,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[340,342,341,50,51,41],"class_list":["post-3855","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-blockchain-technology","tag-blockgeeks","tag-distributive-ledger-technology","tag-ehr","tag-emr","tag-healthcare"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/pwer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/AdobeStock_205289349.jpeg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pwer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3855","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pwer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pwer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pwer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pwer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3855"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/pwer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3855\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3985,"href":"https:\/\/pwer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3855\/revisions\/3985"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pwer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3860"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pwer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3855"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pwer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3855"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pwer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3855"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}