TRENDS
and record transactions on the distributed
ledger themselves. Owning their data,
patients can then take it with them whenever
they change insurance providers, doctors, or
health systems.
Yet, blockchain’s potential is not limited to
making healthcare records more accessible
or putting patients in charge of their data.
According John Bass, CEO of Hashed Health,
a healthcare innovation firm, the technology
will also help address inflated costs. Rising
medical costs, he says, are the biggest
problem in healthcare across the world.
“Our value chains and system
infrastructure today reward siloed interests
over ecosystem-based shared value interest,”
Bass explains. With blockchain, there is an
opportunity to eliminate the friction and cost
of several middlemen, such as insurance
companies, group purchasing organizations,
and EHR vendors, and return the value
extracted by these intermediaries back to the
patient.
However, according to Bass, putting
blockchain to work when it comes to health
records may be easier said than done. “We are
currently trying to pick simpler applications
that can make a difference in the short term,”
he goes on, “as we build a foundation for
more disruptive and exciting applications like
health records.”
It’s not just patient records that
blockchain technology can revamp. It also
has the potential to transform the way
physicians’ records are shared and verified.
Consider Professional Credentials Exchange
(ProCredEx), a blockchain-based registry
that improves the way credentials and license
data for healthcare professionals are stored
and shared. To understand how it works,
imagine a hospital trying to onboard a new
physician. Traditionally, its administrators
would reach out to the issuing agencies to
verify the physician’s degrees, licenses, and
other records.
“Our exchange can eliminate this long,
manual process,” says Anthony Begando,
CEO of ProCredEx. “We will enable disparate
industry constituents, such as licensing
boards and health systems, to take the
verification process online in a secure
and decentralized manner.” Currently, the
blockchain registry is creating a national
consortium of healthcare delivery systems,
telemedicine companies, payers, and contract
medical staffing companies to launch pilot
programs to verify credentials.
Evernym, too, is piloting Doctors’
Passport—a portable credential for medical
professionals—alongside Doctors Link, a UK
platform that connects doctors directly to
hospitals to fill temporary vacancies.
“Blockchain will bring a lot of efficiency
to this process,” Tobin describes. “Health
companies can not only verify and check
credentials, licenses, and the identity of the
issuer, but they can also confirm that it was
actually issued to the person being hired and
note if anything was tampered or revoked.”
And while projects like ProCredEx in the
U.S. and Evernym’s doctor passport in the
U.K. are still in their pilot stage, blockchain
advocates like Bass are optimistic. “You can’t
change the world overnight,” he argues.
“This is just the beginning, where we are
focused on picking simpler use cases, testing
our solutions, and helping solve real world
problems in the near term.” ■
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