Power to the Patient
It’s there, it’s everywhere, in multiple shapes and forms. Ethereum, Bitcoin, Dogecoin, Litecoin, Cardano... Ever since bitcoin saw the light of day, we have been immersed in the bitcoin fever: the idea of a safe investment or a volatile currency with variable levels of speculation. However, blockchain is not just bitcoin or cryptocurrencies, both of which are just facets of the technology, but something entirely unique in its own right.
Blockchain, created in 2008, is a decentralised and transparent database, where anonymised records are redistributed among all members, all of whom possess a verified copy of the original information in an immutable ledger.
The functioning of blockchain assigns a more important
role to the individual, since every node (user) is certifying and storing each transaction
that is (or was) executed in the chain of operations. This chain of blocks is
then time-stamped and linked through cryptographic and immutable hashes (codes)
and shared with all members.
Blockchain has the potential to transform healthcare by
maximising interoperability and reliability, and giving the patient the power
to decide how and which information will be shared and (maybe, eventually)
sold.
You Would Never Break the Chain
One of the key reasons why blockchain is so compatible with healthcare is because of its patient-centricity, a current paradigm and priority for healthcare.
Blockchains can essentially be public or private, which
means that designated users can control the number of people inside of their
chain and their accessibility (clearance), as well as the type of data stored
or shared. At the same time, blockchains can be used to track and verify
transactions and to run scripts (simple commands or self-executing contracts).
In terms of storage, there’s another revolution: we might
be moving out of the trusted third-party paradigm as doubts and fears continue
to rise regarding the security of medical data (see
the 500,000-patient data leak from a French healthcare provider on 24 February 2021
as an example).
A New Day
Time will provide more answers. But an example will be the U.S.’ Drug Quality and Security Act (DQSA, 2013) and the Drug Supply Chain Security Act that will create an electronic interoperable mechanism to identify and trace prescription drugs that are distributed in the U.S. This act sets 2023 as an enforceable date, which will be the real test for this interoperability. We’ll have to see if the current sanitary conditions imply an extension in the execution.
In the coming years, we’ll witness the consolidation of
companies setting up their activities on the acceleration of healthcare processes
with blockchain (Medledger, Embleema, Fitrova, Vitality), while increasing the
empowerment of the patient as the key to data, fully controlling them.
Blockchain might also improve another key issue in digital
healthcare: interoperability. Limited access to platforms might help develop a
higher level of uniform data sharing between trusted participants.
Data and Privacy: Silver and Gold
Actors in the industry are insisting that if we are to accept the use of blockchain, it will only be because we are going to solve problems we had before, and not create new ones.
Blockchain will help patients keep their identity private,
and most importantly of all, give them the control over consent but also for
the type of data that they will feel like sharing. Patients will be able to
directly share data without a third party as intermediary.
This will bring many positive consequences from a business
perspective. First, the increase of the quality of the data – thanks to the consensus
mechanism – will be updated constantly. Second, there will be the reliability
and accuracy of information, because of the computational trust, the tools of encryption
and first-hand treatment of data by the users. And finally, leaks and wrongdoings
surrounding the data market will be reduced. All of these circumstances will
derive in data from patients that will be more valuable.
We are experiencing a massive revolution in the way data
is being processed in terms of speed and scope. Blockchain is an invitation to
freedom and self-regulation, in the same way the World Wide Web was once seen
as the promise of progress and open speech.
Our societies are shifting into a new model of data sharing
and regulation of digital privacy and progressively, health data users will
become the guardians of their own secrecy and individual data value. Let’s hope
that the sector and the regulation will follow.
