Beyond Bitcoin 5 Uses for Blockchain in Health Care

The health care industry could benefit from varied applications of blockchain technology, including improved ability to capture and manage patient records and claims data.

People tend to have one of two views of blockchain: They see it either as synonymous with bitcoin and other digital currencies, or as an overhyped technology. While blockchain isn’t likely to turn health care on its head—and we might still be five or 10 years away from realizing its potential—the technology could help life sciences and health care organizations streamline processes and improve patient experiences.

Blockchain is essentially a living list of linked digital records. Each transaction is verified and stored by each network participant based on a set of previously agreed-upon rules and without a governing central authority. Information can be added but not copied or deleted. As a result, multiple groups—health plans, physicians, hospital systems, and even patients—can share information through a secure system.

Several industries are investing heavily in blockchain. A year ago, Harvard Business Review predicted blockchain would revolutionize banking in the same way the internet changed media. Many manufacturers are looking to link the technology to smart contracts that can be digitally verified and enforced. Some groups are even eyeing it for use in fantasy sports and dating apps.

Health care might be a step or two behind other sectors, but in a survey last fall, about 70 percent of health plan and health system IT executives said blockchain holds significant promise for health care interoperability. The Deloitte Center for Health Solutions came to a similar conclusion when researchers examined potential uses of blockchain for health plans. The team outlined six use cases where insurers could apply the technology to improve current standard operating procedures while enhancing the customer experience. More recently, in another crowdsourcing exercise, the centre discussed blockchain’s potential impact on hospitals and health systems.

A challenge for health care stakeholders is determining where to apply blockchain. Rather than adopt the technology and then search for an application, life sciences and health care organizations can benefit from identifying an issue first, and then considering how it might be solved using the technology.

Here are five areas where blockchain might be useful in health care:

Supply chains. Most biopharmaceutical companies are at least exploring ways to use blockchain to monitor and track products and to maintain other important information. A certain biologic, for example, might need to be kept at a precise temperature, so sensors included in a shipment could transmit temperature data to the blockchain. The technology also might be helpful in guarding against counterfeit or substandard products, and biopharmaceutical manufacturers could use it to capture and record interactions with regulators.

Clinical trials

Using blockchain, companies can securely share data generated by clinical trials—such as patient demographics and information on adverse reactions—with sponsors and regulators. The technology can also help organizations manage and track informed consent across multiple sites, systems, and protocols. Blockchain could be used to collect, build on, and share patient data profiles across multiple clinical trial sites—and even virtual trial sites as they are developed. If applied to consent management, blockchain could give patients the ability to control and grant access to their data if researchers want it in the future.

Provider directory management

Blockchain-based hospital and physician directories could leverage the technology’s decentralized consensus protocols to help enable providers and health plans to update listings more quickly. If providers changed networks, or if people found a mistake, they could initiate a correction that would be automatically accepted or rejected by smart contracts governed by other information in the blockchain (e.g., a recently rejected claim).

Patient records. Most people have access to just a sliver of their health history. Blockchain could help pull together a lifetime of transactions from multiple health systems, pharmacies, and health plans. This information could be processed into readable information for a patient’s own use, or converted into records available to a variety of electronic medical records systems. Links to detailed information about procedures, encounters, diagnoses, claims, and prescriptions could be added over time, with access to this information managed by patients or their designees.

Blockchain is essentially a living list of linked digital records. Each transaction is verified and stored by each network participant based on a set of previously agreed-upon rules and without a governing central authority. Information can be added but not copied or deleted.

Insurance coverage, preauthorization, and claims adjudication

The ability to help ensure the accuracy of claims and to spot fraudulent claims is particularly important for Medicare and Medicaid, where payments must be coordinated between payers, providers, the federal government, and banks. A smart contract could show proof of adjudication. For example, the act of checking in for a clinic visit or logging into a virtual appointment online could be confirmed by the health system’s financial or clinical systems. This transaction could be combined with others from the same clinic that day and uploaded to a blockchain accessible to the health plan. An employee at the health plan could see the completed transaction and reimburse the health system accordingly. Claims reviews could be streamlined, as encounter data would be accessible and easily verified on a blockchain. Health systems and physicians could also connect with health plans to determine information about a patient’s health coverage or to verify patient demographics. ***

Early blockchain adopters may fear other organizations will not fully embrace the technology, reducing ROI for those who currently invest in it. However, given the potential, it may be time for health care stakeholders to move beyond the hype of blockchain and begin to explore current and likely blockchain applications.