The rise of new technologies, such as the Internet of Things and big data, has promoted the development and innovation of healthcare worldwide and improved the construction of the smart healthcare system.
With the advancement of technology and scientific theory, traditional medicine has gradually started to digitize and become informed with biotechnology at its core. While smart healthcare has emerged which incorporates a new generation of information technology.
Smart healthcare is not just a simple technological advance, but also a comprehensive, multi-level change.
Before we dive into the topic, let's clarify some concepts:
What is a Smart Healthcare System?
Smart healthcare is a medical system with medical cloud data at its core, which combines electronic medical record, electronic health archive, and the medical Internet of Things by using the Internet of Things, data transmission, and exchange technologies to build medical and health services and optimal management.
What is Blockchain?
The term 'Blockchain' denotes a shared, immutable file of a chain of transactions., Eeach one comprises a block, with blocks being linked by cryptographic keys ("shreds").
These keys or signatures are saved on shared tapes, assembled by a mesh of nodes or the processes that connect them. Each node has a copy of the entire chain, constantly being synchronized and kept up to date.
According to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the advantages of blockchain technology include:
This technology is also called digital tape technology (DLT).
How is Blockchain helping to shape the Smart Healthcare System?
The Background
Serious cyberattack concerns have emerged in healthcare services during the past few years. A record number of cases have been reported in the year 2019,when Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) breaches reached 418. A total of 34.9 million US citizens had their protected health information (PHI) compromised in that year. Also, in 2014, hackers intruded into the servers of the US Health insurer Anthem's and the sensitive information of about 80 million people (patients and employees) got stolen.
These cases proved that the existing infrastructure could not provide security against such data breaches, which could ultimately question the privacy and security of patients' health information.
The presently implemented models of smart healthcare records open another window towards a problematic scenario, i.e., the patients' data being in the custody of health organizations, leaving patients' information at stake, and causing inefficient data delivery towards patients' healthcare.
These models depend on passwords, which may contain confidential data that has to be exchanged and usually stored on unreliable and less secure clouds.
How does Blockchain become a major player in the healthcare industry?
Recently, Blockchain has been adopted by several governments, private and public-private partnered projects. Blockchain's potential benefits in the field of healthcare were witnessed when the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and IBM Watson Health focused on a blockchain framework to protect data that is related to oncology.
Blockchain allows data collection from various sources and saves that data in the transaction audit log, which ultimately helps keep track of the accountability and transparency of data at the time of data exchange. FDA and IBM believe that Blockchain can support data exchange collected from various sources with the consensus of patients and the terms mutually agreed on.
It is also of great importance that healthcare data access must be handled with precautions. Similarly, standardized auditing is inevitable for guaranteeing data integrity. Blockchain reduces the chances of such disastrous breaches and ensures there is data integrity, anonymity, and resilient storage. In addition, a single-point-of-failure is also mitigated as this model stores data in a distributive way.
How does Blockchain benefit the Smart Healthcare System?
At present, the smart healthcare industry has made rapid progress, but there are still problems surrounding information security and system security. As the key technology of the fourth industrial revolution, Blockchain has the characteristics of being decentralized anonymous , tamper-proof, and auditable. The combination of Blockchain and smart healthcare can alleviate the pain points of traditional smart healthcare in information sharing, data security, and privacy maintenance, as well as optimize the user-centered smart healthcare systems, and establish a multiparty medical alliance chain involving government, enterprises, and individuals to promote the industrial upgrading of smart healthcare.
Blockchain is essential in the creation and operation of a decentralized model for electronic health records (EHRs). One of its most significant contributions is avoiding a considerable number of privacy and security issues that arise when data is stored in one large pool (data silos).
In addition to improving security, Blockchain also targets the interoperability of data between different providers. Standardizing healthcare data is far easier to transfer and you can access data between different systems and providers. This could mean sharing information with your wearable heart rate watch, your general practitioner and even the hospital you need to visit while on holiday. Blockchain can protect patient records even while it is facilitating interoperability.
Over the past few years, healthcare organizations have shifted from the traditional local storage of patient records to hybrid systems. With Blockchain, you can both streamline and target the cost efficiency of these "old-fashioned' data storages. Looking beyond that, it could potentially contribute to either hybrid or possible future decentralized systems.
Final thoughts…
Blockchain is the technology that drives many of the innovative trends that are making headlines worldwide; just look at cryptocurrencies. Its added value in terms of privacy, interoperability, and real-time data management, it has certainly caught our attention.
Many startups have already emerged from Blockchain, with promising applications emerging and the potential to affect efficiency and security.
CODESCRUM
ABOUT US
Codescrum is a team of talented people who enjoy building software that makes the unthinkable possible.
We want to work for a better world that we can help create by making software that delivers impact beyond expectations.
CONTACT US
ADDRESS
CLOSEST TUBE STATIONS
Ⓒ CODESCRUM LTD 2011 - PRESENT, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED