Today, blockchain in healthcare has a wide range of applications. From complex data-sharing procedures and to clinical trials and medical research, healthcare stakeholders are under immense pressure to provide high-quality healthcare to patients while keeping the costs down. However, blockchain technology may soon be able to alleviate this pressure and provide a secure and seamless way of sharing data and enhancing medical research. So, in this article, let us discuss five ways in which blockchain can transform the healthcare sector.

• Medical data sharing and management

Blockchain in healthcare can enable the secure transfer of patient records both nationally and across borders. It can also lower transaction costs and risks and boost management coordination. A single entity does not control medical data on blockchains. Thus, it can be distributed among individuals as well as organizations. Every transaction on the blockchain is time-stamped and becomes a permanent record that cannot be altered afterward.

• Drug development and supply chain management

Blockchain in the healthcare sector provides provenance tracking and facilities that are important for record-keeping so that the fetching of information as and when solicited becomes easy. Blockchain technologies have the ability to allow the patients to know exactly where any drug is in the supply chain. This gives you the location of the drugs from their production to their arrival at the pharmacy. 

Also, read – What role does blockchain technology play in the digital era?

• Medical research

Blockchain in healthcare serves as a secure storehouse of patient outcomes and clinical trials. This could enhance the care and results for new treatments. Moreover, since the records of clinical trials and outcomes are time-stamped, blockchain could reduce data snooping, results switching, and fraud and error. Moreover, the patient results could give rise to innovative research initiatives and drive cooperation between patients and researchers. 

Our @matthewniemerg contributed to @EUBlockchain report on #blockchain applications in healthcare. Give it a read to discover practical DLT use cases! https://t.co/voshJQBuhy

— Aleph Zero (@Aleph__Zero) April 11, 2022

• Case management

Through blockchain technology, all elements of a patient’s case management can be developed into a smart contract, that can be used to track the patient’s progress and evaluate their treatment. The best part about this use case is that, with the patient’s consent, this data can be incorporated into the blockchain and viewed by anyone in the blockchain to access information about patient care and outcome. 

• Claims, billing management and fraud

Using a blockchain-based system could substantially reduce costs related to claims, payments, and processing time and also remove intermediaries. For example, the Capital One-Gem Health collaboration shows that blockchain could improve the significant challenges of logistical information tracking of reliability-centered maintenance (RCM) operations. A blockchain ledger could also unify all stakeholders in the network, including payers, providers, and patients, thereby increasing the system’s efficiency by requiring only one update throughout the network.