Blockchain for Healthcare: Benefits, Use Cases & Real-world Examples

After disrupting the financial world with a decentralized payment system, blockchain is gearing up to transform the healthcare industry. In fact, many companies in the healthcare sector have already started implementing this technology. According to a Statista report, about 55 percent of healthcare applications will adopt blockchain for commercial deployment by 2025. But why do companies use blockchain for healthcare?

Blockchain's decentralized and cryptographic nature facilitates the secure storage and transfer of patient medical records, making it more difficult for unauthorized parties to access this sensitive data. Not only that, blockchain also helps in managing the medicine supply chain more efficiently.

Leading healthcare companies across the globe have already identified the potential of this technology in shaping the industry. They already use it to securely handle patient data, improve medicine supply chain management, and prevent fraud. This blog sheds light on the use cases of blockchain, its benefits, and the top 10 companies implementing blockchain for healthcare. But before that, let’s understand what exactly blockchain technology is.

Blockchain technology is a decentralized and immutable digital ledger system that records transactions across multiple computers, ensuring security and transparency. In a blockchain system, information is grouped into "blocks," linked chronologically to form a "chain." Every block in the chain contains a set of transactions linked to the previous block using cryptography, making it difficult to change data in any block without changing all the subsequent blocks.

Blockchain has several applications in healthcare, from enhancing patient data management and interoperability to medical supply chain management and healthcare payment. Let’s look at the top use cases of blockchain in the healthcare industry.

One of the most effective use cases of blockchain for healthcare is patient data management. Whether storing patients' health records, social security numbers, or bank account details, blockchain encryption systems facilitate secure data storage. The distributed ledger technology ensures the secure transfer of patient medical records, preventing unauthorized individuals from accessing the data.

Blockchain also ensures the immutability of data. This means once the information is recorded, it cannot be altered without consensus from the network, guaranteeing the accuracy and authenticity of patient data over time. Moreover, blockchain allows the seamless sharing of patient records across different healthcare providers while maintaining data accuracy.

Researchers often have to record a vast amount of data when performing clinical trials of new medicines or researching a new disease. The immutability feature ensures the integrity of the trial data, preventing it from tampering or manipulation. Blockchain also helps in recording every change in clinical trials and helps in tracking the details of the changes made.

Besides that, blockchain's consensus mechanism ensures that any changes to clinical trial records require agreement from multiple parties. This validates every modification and marks it as authentic, promoting trust and reliability.

Fake drugs are a significant problem in the healthcare system, which is not only widespread but can be dangerous as well. Counterfeit drugs may contain toxic ingredients that can adversely affect a patient's health. Sometimes, illegitimate drugs are repackaged after expiration using fake labels, causing severe health issues.

According to the National Crime Prevention Council, more than 10% of drugs in the global supply chain are counterfeit. In many countries, fake medicines account for up to 70% of the pharmaceuticals in the supply chain.

Applying blockchain in healthcare can resolve these issues and help optimize supply chain management. Blockchain-based systems can record every level of the drug supply chain, making identifying and removing fake drugs easier. Additionally, using blockchain for healthcare can help in monitoring drug life cycles.

Telemedicine can provide easy access to quality healthcare for people residing in remote areas. However, it relies on exchanging sensitive health data between patients and healthcare providers, making it vulnerable to cyber threats. Implementing blockchain for healthcare can remove this risk as the technology provides a decentralized and more secure platform for data exchange. Blockchain also provides a secure platform for easy integration of wearable IoT devices, making it easier to monitor patient’s progress remotely.

Sometimes, patients must consult multiple specialists and need comprehensive information on their health history for better diagnoses, treatments, and overall care. However, storing a patient's complete health data and sharing it among doctors and healthcare providers is a significant challenge.

Blockchain in healthcare facilitates interoperable health data exchange by addressing key challenges like inconsistent data formats, data privacy, and security, among others.

Blockchain has a decentralized architecture that allows multiple participants to access the same dataset. This eliminates the need for a central authority to store data and reduces the risk of a single point of failure, thus enhancing data availability.

When patients need to visit a doctor, they want to check their credentials before booking an appointment. Blockchain technology can play a critical role in tracking and verifying the credentials of doctors and healthcare workers by providing an immutable and decentralized ledger. Once a healthcare expert adds a credential, they cannot alter or delete it.

It prevents unauthorized changes to credentials and ensures the integrity of the information. Additionally, blockchain allows easy verification of credentials by multiple parties, such as clinics, hospitals, and regulatory bodies. This can also help healthcare institutions in hiring doctors and other medical workers as they can check candidates' details.

Hospitals, clinics, diagnostic centers, and health insurance companies process numerous transactions and claims on a day-to-day basis. This process involves sharing credit cards, bank account details, and other sensitive information. With a growing number of data breach incidents, securing payment details has become more critical than ever.

Blockchain uses cryptography to protect data from unauthorized access. Each blockchain transaction is cryptographically linked to the previous one, forming a chain resistant to unauthorized access. Blockchain also helps streamline healthcare payments by eliminating intermediaries, resulting in faster payments and lower costs.

Blockchain offers a wide range of benefits for the healthcare industry, like better data security, transparency, and efficient claims processing. Let's take a closer look at the top benefits of blockchain.

Applying blockchain for healthcare can significantly reduce operational costs by streamlining administrative tasks, enhancing interoperability, and enabling faster data exchange. Leveraging blockchain, healthcare providers can automate many manual and paper-based processes in healthcare, such as medical record sharing, drug supply chain management, and claims processing, resulting in cost savings.

Moreover, blockchain can provide real-time visibility into drug and medical supply movements. This visibility reduces the chances of counterfeit products entering the supply chain system, thus enhancing efficiency and preventing losses due to counterfeit products.

Healthcare data breaches are a major concern across the globe, affecting millions of people. A Health IT Security report reveals that over 39 million individuals have been impacted due to healthcare data breaches in the first half of 2023 alone. This report shows the necessity of a more secure healthcare system.

Utilizing blockchain technology in healthcare can enhance data security by providing a decentralized and secure platform for storing and sharing patient data and payment details. Moreover, the consensus mechanism in blockchain requires agreement among network participants before making any change or adding new data, reducing the chances of fraudulent entries.

Blockchain's cryptographic techniques ensure patient data remains encrypted and tamper-proof during transmission. Data is stored in a decentralized manner in the blockchain network, eliminating the need for a central authority to manage and control access. This empowers patients and authorized stakeholders to have direct control over their data and facilitates seamless transmission.

Implementing blockchain in healthcare can bring transparency to the industry by providing a decentralized and distributed ledger system that doesn't allow modification of transactions or data once they are recorded. In the healthcare industry, blockchain brings more transparency in storing and sharing patient data, medical records, drug supply chain information, and other critical data. Moreover, blockchain empowers the patient to control who has access to their data, ensuring transparency and accountability.

Blockchain creates a secure ledger of patients' health records that allows the smooth sharing of information across different healthcare providers while maintaining patient consent and control. This reduces the need for patients to repeatedly share their medical records and brings more speed and efficiency to the healthcare system.

Integrating blockchain for the healthcare industry also helps track the movement of medicines, medical equipment, and other healthcare products through the supply chain, mitigating the risk of counterfeit drugs and enhancing supply chain management. Moreover, smart contracts technology in blockchain automates tracking processes, reducing paperwork and bringing in more efficiency.

Blockchain simplifies healthcare and medical insurance claim processing by efficiently sharing data between the parties involved. The transparency provided by blockchain minimizes the risk of fraud and errors. Moreover, smart contracts automatically process claims once conditions are met. These steps significantly reduce claim processing time and bring more efficiency.

Blockchain technology has significantly impacted the healthcare sector by providing innovative solutions. Here are ten real-world examples of blockchain applications in healthcare.

Founded in: 2015

Location: Denver, Colorado, USA

BurstIQ provides a platform to help healthcare companies manage their patient data safely and securely. They leverage blockchain technology to offer a secure, decentralized environment for storing, sharing, and managing sensitive health data. By utilizing blockchain's immutability and transparency, BurstIQ ensures the integrity and privacy of patient information and empowers patients to have greater control over their data. This ensures that only authorized healthcare providers can access the data.

BurstIQ’s platform incorporates up-to-date and extensive data regarding patients' health and medical activities. The platform strictly complies with HIPAA rules.

Founded in: 2016

Location: London, England

Medicalchain is a pioneer in introducing blockchain in the healthcare industry. The company has harnessed the power of blockchain to transform healthcare services. Its decentralized blockchain-based platform offers a secure depository for health. The patient possesses control to share these digital records with hospitals, doctors, diagnostic centers, and other healthcare service providers. Medicalchain’s blockchain-based platform keeps track of the source of patients' data while safeguarding their identities.

In 2018, the Medicalchain introduced telemedicine services with the launch of MyClinic.com. This platform allows patients to consult doctors via video call and settle their bills with "MedToken," a blockchain-based native token for MedicalChain.

Founded in: 2007

Location: USA, Estonia

Guardtime helps healthcare industries and governments with blockchain-based solutions to store data. Healthcare records are often scattered across various providers and systems, leading to fragmented patient records. Using blockchain, Guardtime builds a tamper-proof digital health record accessible to only authorized parties, ensuring the accuracy and completeness of medical data. The company operates in the US, UK, Switzerland, Estonia and Singapore.

The company signed a deal with Estonia’s eHealth Authority in 2017 to secure the health data of more than a million Estonians. The data includes highly sensitive genetic information of thousands of patients. Guardtime has also teamed up with a healthcare provider in the UAE to integrate blockchain-based solutions into their system.

Moreover, Guardtime has recently partnered with Verizon Enterprise Solutions to implement decentralized services based on its Keyless Signature Infrastructure (KSI) blockchain.

Founded in: 2020

Location: Illinois, USA

Avaneer Health is at the forefront of utilizing blockchain technology to improve healthcare services and offer innovative and secure ways to enhance healthcare delivery and provide efficient data management. The company is backed by Cleveland Clinic, Anthem, Aetna, and other leading healthcare providers.

Avaneer Health uses a public ledger to smoothly transfer healthcare data, process efficient claims, and maintain healthcare provider directories.

Founded in: 2015

Location: Atlanta, Georgia, USA

Patientory leverages blockchain technology to offer solutions for managing patient data, improving transparency, and ensuring the security of sensitive medical information. The end-to-end encryption guarantees healthcare providers can share patient data securely. The company provides a tamper-proof ledger to help healthcare providers store and transfer all information via the blockchain network.

Patientory's blockchain-based platform facilitates the healthcare sector to provide fast and efficient service by housing all patient information in one place. The application helps patients track doctor visits, medical bills, insurance, and immunizations and update personal medical records regularly.

Founded in: 2017

Location: San Francisco, CA, USA

MediBloc is a decentralized healthcare data ecosystem built on blockchain technology that provides easy and secure access to patients' medical records to healthcare providers and researchers. Patients can update their information in a tamper-proof blockchain-based platform and have complete control over their health data. They can easily share access to their medical information with authorized healthcare providers or researchers.

MediBloc's blockchain ledger creates records of all interactions with patient data that foster transparency and accountability. The platform also facilitates interoperability among healthcare institutions by enabling seamless data exchange between different healthcare providers.

Founded in: 2014

Location: San Francisco, CA, USA

Chronicled is a blockchain-based platform transforming pharmaceutical supply chain management by addressing issues such as counterfeit drugs, quality control, and data security. The platform builds blockchain networks that exhibit the chain of custody. The network provides end-to-end traceability of pharmaceutical products, from production facilities to end-users, thus preventing malicious activity like drug smuggling.

In 2017, Chronicled launched a Mediledger project to ensure medical supply chains' privacy, efficiency, and safety. With enhanced security and transparency, Chronicle is reshaping the future of pharmaceutical supply chain management.

Founded in: 2016

Location: Paris, France

Blockpharma is another excellent example of the application of blockchain for healthcare. The company transforms pharmaceutical supply chain management by providing enhanced transparency, traceability, and security.

The platform helps patients determine if they are consuming fake medicines by recording every step in the pharmaceutical supply chain. Moreover, real-time monitoring and recording of data at each stage of the supply chain help pharmaceutical companies maintain the highest quality control standards.

The platform also complies with data privacy regulations like the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA) to safeguard sensitive pharmaceutical product information and patient data.

Founded in: 2017

Location: New York, USA

EncrypGen has developed a blockchain-based platform, Gene-Chain, allowing healthcare companies to search, store, share, buy, and sell genetic information. Researchers and healthcare institutions can access anonymous but permitted genetic data through EncrypGen's platform, facilitating collaborative research efforts without compromising patient privacy.

The company safeguards the privacy of its users and permits only authorized members to buy genetic information using secure and trackable DNA tokens.

Founded in: 2016

Location: New York, USA

Robomed harnesses the power of AI and blockchain technology to revolutionize telemedicine and remote monitoring in the healthcare industry. The platform enables remote monitoring of patients' health information with wearable smart devices that collect real-time data about heart rate, blood pressure, blood sugar levels, and other wearable diagnostics tools and transmit it securely to healthcare providers using blockchain technology.

This helps in the early detection of health issues and taking necessary steps promptly. The platform also offers telemedicine sessions to help patients consult with healthcare experts from remote locations.

The transformative potential of blockchain for healthcare is undeniable. By leveraging the power of blockchain, healthcare organizations can protect sensitive medical data, aid faster data exchange, streamline operations, and provide better healthcare services to patients. Applying blockchain can also save significant time and money for healthcare providers and patients.

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