Developing The Blockchain in Healthcare

 

In terms of cost, healthcare is one of the most heavily debated industries in the United States; fortunately, blockchain has the potential to make a tremendous impact on the healthcare industry, dramatically cutting costs even as it increases security and efficiency. Because blockchains are both secure and transparent, the technology is predicted to transform the way in which patient data is transferred between providers, cutting costs and better protecting sensitive health information. As much as 86 percent of mistakes in healthcare are administrative, according to GetReferral MD, but blockchain holds the potential to prevent those kinds of errors from happening at all.

Companies like Nano Vision want to make our healthcare and medical research more efficient and effective. "Globally, we spend $5-10 trillion on healthcare each year, which includes administrative costs that have very little real impact," the Nano Vision team explains. But the power of blockchain technology and artificial intelligence can do far more than increase efficiency; the platform's Nano Senseā„¢ chip is being designed to actually analyze molecular data and identify health threats in real-time, and in the real world where it impacts all of us.

The implications of this technology are mind-blowing; the system is decentralized and uses a cryptocurrency to share or contribute data, meaning that major institutions, corporations, foundations, and insurers can't control the information collected and stored. It will also be possible for anyone to simply purchase some of Nano Vision's cryptocurrency to direct research funding to a particular disease area. Because it will be able to access critical data in real time (at the molecular level, mind you), it will identify and assess health problems faster and more accurately than ever before.

"Nano Vision is pioneering a life-saving economic system that incentivizes the collection and use of molecular data at a global scale using blockchain and a new crypto asset to share data and resources to fundamentally change the way we address world health," said the Nano Vision team. "This is the trillion dollar challenge of our day."

Despite promising, potentially groundbreaking applications like these, the healthcare industry presents some unique challenges for blockchain technology. For blockchain to be truly successful in healthcare, it's going to have create an infrastructure large enough to support the tech's use in every hospital and care facility across the country. To do that, you'll have to install systems and teach new operations all hospitals and staff, making the potential roadblocks against widespread blockchain implementation steep. Despite these limitations, there is ever more consumer demand for solutions in healthcare, and it's really only a matter of time before blockchain becomes the mammoth healthcare disruptor many are predicting it will be.

Source: TechBullion (View full article)

Posted by Dan Corcoran on January 17, 2018 07:17 AM

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