Blockchain in Healthcare Today

Highlights from Advancing the Business of Health with Blockchain and Frontier Tech at ConV2X Symposium 2023

Tory Cenaj — Tue, 21 Nov 2023 00:00:00 -0800

Developing a Secure Internet-based Network of Trusted Data

Thomas Hardjono, PhD , Florence Hudson, BSE — Sat, 20 Apr 2024 00:00:00 -0700

Our world has not caught up with technology, and as a result has become more dangerous and nefarious with clandestine actors. Learn what reputable organizations, businesses and academic pioneers are doing to preserve digital identity, data provenance, universal access, and secure privacy-preserving transactions, to harness socially responsible global data sharing.

PharmaLedger Association – Platform Launch Lessons Learned and Outlook

Natalia Sofia, Daniel Fritz , Disa Lee Choun , Moderator: Anca Petre — Sat, 20 Apr 2024 00:00:00 -0700

The panel explores the application of blockchain technology within the healthcare sector, focusing on its potential to enhance trust, transparency, and connectivity while reinforcing patient-centered control of data access. The discussion examines the opportunities for patient empowerment and improved patient access to healthcare information through decentralized ledger technology. The panel features industry experts providing insights into current trends, challenges, and future prospects of blockchain in pharmaceuticals, emphasizing broader use cases beyond specific organizations.

Objectives

Gain a comprehensive understanding of the role of blockchain technology in the pharmaceutical industry and its potential impact on patient care and relationships with the healthcare system.
Explore the opportunities presented by blockchain for improving trust, transparency, and audibility in data sharing within the healthcare and medical environment.
Understand the significance of patient-centered control in accessing, storing, and utilizing healthcare data and how blockchain can contribute to enhancing patient empowerment.
Discuss the challenges and considerations associated with implementing blockchain in the pharmaceutical sector and explore strategies to overcome them while ensuring compliance with regulatory frameworks.

Pioneering New Business Models in Value Based Care

Ahmed Abdulla Al-Maqtari — Sat, 20 Apr 2024 00:00:00 -0700

This session will explore the real-world impact value-based procurement and subsequent contracting, and health technology pricing in the context of value-based care. We will delve into innovative business models that are reshaping the healthcare landscape, promoting cost-effectiveness, and enhancing patient outcomes. Attendees will gain valuable insights into the evolving strategies driving value-based care and its implications for healthcare providers, payers, and patients.

Learning Objectives

Understand the concept of value-based care and its significance in the current healthcare environment
Explore the real-world impact of value-based pricing on healthcare delivery and patient outcomes
Examine the role of value-based procurement/contracting in driving cost-effective healthcare solutions
Gain insights into health technology pricing models and their impact on value-based care initiatives
Identify innovative business models that support value-based care and improve patient outcomes

Data Economy in Healthcare on Blockchain Technology

Kevin Yavuz — Sat, 20 Apr 2024 00:00:00 -0700

The importance of data and digitization in healthcare cannot be overstated. These advancements have the potential to revolutionize the way healthcare is delivered, leading to improved patient outcomes, enhanced efficiency, and better decision-making by healthcare providers. Blockchain technology can play a significant role in addressing the main challenges like data accessibility, privacy, interoperability and patient empowerment, ultimately transforming the healthcare ecosystem into a data-driven economy

EHR Systems and Blockchain: Potentials, Challenges and the Road Ahead

Sat, 20 Apr 2024 00:00:00 -0700

Panelists discuss blockchain technology use for electronic health records, and specifically delve into the benefits that blockchain brings to EHRs, but also discuss what its pitfalls and limitations are; including presenting perspectives from academia, and examples
from practitioners.

Learning Objectives

Understand the potential applications of blockchain for electronic health records (EHRs).
Explore the benefits and challenges of implementing blockchain for EHRs, including security, interoperability, privacy, and data integrity.
Identify key use cases and real-world examples of blockchain implementation in healthcare and EHR management.
Analyze the potential impact of blockchain on improving healthcare data exchange, patient consent management, and medical research.
Discuss the regulatory and legal considerations associated with using blockchain in healthcare, such as compliance with data protection laws and standards.
Examine the role of smart contracts and decentralized applications (DApps) in enhancing EHR management and patient control over their health information.
Assess the scalability and performance limitations of blockchain technology in handling large-scale healthcare data and high transaction volumes.
Evaluate potential cost savings and efficiency gains achieved through blockchain implementation in EHRs, considering factors such as data access, auditability, and administrative overhead.
Discuss the future prospects and challenges of integrating blockchain with existing healthcare systems, standards, and infrastructure to achieve widespread adoption and interoperability.

Blockchain in Health - From Pilots to Mainstream and Implications for AI

Sun, 21 Apr 2024 00:00:00 -0700

Speakers delve into and beyond the previously published BHHTY journal article “Moving Beyond Proof of Concept and Pilots to Mainstream: Discovery and Lessons from Blockchain in Healthcare,” located at https://doi.org/10.30953/bhty.v6.280. This continuous enterprise blockchain technology journey extends the framework and solution assemblies including further developments, with cross over into generative AI and ethics.

Objectives

Learn specific examples on the economics of blockchain revealing low-hanging fruit for the move from pilots to adoption. Explore concepts such as:

Data integrity, minimal data, inter-entity streamlining leading to efficiencies, and what is already possible with tech stack developments and economics in efficiency (in millions) from the previously published BHTY article at DOI: https://doi.org/10.30953/bhty.v6.280
Learn from other verticals to build a framework that is more comprehensive encompassing global perspectives
Future proofing and stair-stepping design for an evolving technology – holistic guidance to find and execute the opportunities

Obtain a framework for blockchain adoption based on the article. In addition, authors address the academic view of blockchain adoption, and that it is a combination of tech, policy, economics, consumer engagement, and operationalization.
Acquire multi-dimensional discovery and specific blockchain constructs including provenance- consensus, trust maps, convergence, dApp human loops, and future proofing /stair-stepping
Grasp global perspectives on evolving frameworks with in many verticals and the multi-dimensional nature of blockchain transformation, operationalization, blockchain-enterprise landscape, and AI automation.
Gain a better understanding of why is blockchain an essential technology for the future of responsible AI and for scalability of solutions

Scalability Performance Analysis of Blockchain Using Hierarchical Model in Healthcare

Lipsa Sadath, MSc, MCA, Deepti Mehrotra, PhD, Anand Kumar, PhD — Thu, 18 Apr 2024 00:00:00 -0700

Blockchain technology has emerged as a pivotal point to enhance privacy and security in enterprise applications and cyber world. However, scalability is an issue researcher are grappling with, in large enterprises, especially in organizations bearing multiple levels of hierarchy and access privilege. Therefore, the existing models and consensus algorithms suffer one way or another. The medical or healthcare sector suffers this problem the most due to the huge amount of data and probably the central point of failure of the traditional database management system. This paper addresses the situation through a hierarchical model in Hyperledger fabric enterprise application through a healthcare sector use case. Multiple organizations are added to each hierarchy considering them as different organization levels (Hospitals, Hospital Governance, and Insurance company). Currently the first implementation has two levels of hierarchy to show networks of hospitals joining an Insurance Company. Our primary experiment revolves around this model to test and enhance the performance of the network. Performance of the model is assessed by varying and scaling environmental parameters such as the number of organizations, transaction numbers, channels, block intervals and block sizes. The benchmarking tool used is Hyperledger caliper to test various indicators such as success and failure rates along with throughput and latency. The current work only tests the scalability of the model with patient data.

Blockchain Applications in the Pharmaceutical Industry

Thu, 18 Apr 2024 00:00:00 -0700

Background: In recent years, blockchain technology has made great strides in diverse industries but has fallen behind within the pharmaceutical industry. The pharmaceutical industry is complex and would benefit greatly from the distributed database and emphasis of information privacy promoted by blockchain technology. This paper identifies the potential best application for blockchain technology in the United States pharmaceutical industry by identifying current trends, companies exploring the possibilities of blockchain technology, and industry concerns with opportunities for improvement.

Methods: We utilized a 4D framework using ease of implementation, novelty, necessity, and fit of the overall industry to examine the adoption of blockchain technology in the pharmaceutical industry. Based on the 2D framework of difficulty and novelty as driving factors for the development of foundational technologies in the world of business by Iansiti and Lakhani in The Harvard Business Review, each application was ranked and scored for the best potential implementation. The potential applications proposed in this paper can be grouped into two main categories. The first category, management, includes best use cases such as health records, clinical trials, and inventory systems. The second category, monitoring, highlights cases such as pharmaceutical products, preventing counterfeits, optimizing supply chains, and addressing prescription misuse and abuse.Results: Each application was ranked by the four metrics in the framework, giving the greatest weight to necessity and ease of implementation. Using the highlighted methodology above, the applications for best implementation include Prescription Drug Misuse and Abuse Prevention, Prevention of Counterfeits, Clinical Trial Outcomes, and Smart Contracts.

Conclusion: Blockchain technology offers a new and promising solution to pharmaceutical industry needs. Each application of blockchain technology must fit within the framework of necessary, ease of implementation, familiarity amongst stakeholders, and fit of the overall industry to promote the most appropriate use. By using the extended framework proposed by Iansiti and Lakhani we show that blockchain, in all these domains, shows promise to improve pharmaceutical industry performance.