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Blockchain in healthcare: practical applications, benefits, and examples

Blockchain

Hälsovård

Healthcare and pharmaceutical businesses are turning to blockchain as a way to secure sensitive data and make operational processes traceable and reliable. It’s clear that blockchain in healthcare is gaining momentum: the market is anticipated to grow at a CAGR of 63.3% between 2024 and 2030 from $7.04 billion.

But what is blockchain in healthcare — just a passing trend, or a technology worth investing in? In this article, we will explore practical use cases of blockchain and how medical and pharmaceutical workflows can benefit from the technology.

Key applications of blockchain in healthcare

Blockchain holds promise for many businesses in the healthcare domain, including biopharmaceutical companies, medical device manufacturers, insurers, and healthcare providers. Here, we highlight the key blockchain technology use cases in healthcare.

Blockchain medical records management

Supply Chain Management (SCM)

Drug traceability

Medical staff credential verification

Healthcare insurance

Research and clinical trial management

Genome sequencing

Blockchain medical records management

With blockchain, electronic health records are securely stored in a decentralized ledger and can not be changed or deleted by accident or with malicious intent. Medical professionals from multiple healthcare organizations within the network can access and add patient data in real time, improving care coordination in the long term.

Supply Chain Management (SCM)

Another application of blockchain technology for healthcare is tracking the journey of medical supplies — like disposable assets, medical devices, or even blood plasma — from origin to destination. Each step in the supply chain is recorded on an immutable ledger, so goods movements between manufacturers, distributors, and healthcare providers are entirely traceable.

Drug traceability

Den WHO reports that 10% of the world's medicines are counterfeit. Blockchain helps combat this issue, as it captures each step in the lifecycle of prescription drugs — manufacturing, shipping, and prescription. Every recorded transaction can not be tampered with, so the blockchain provides a transparent monitoring and auditing method.

Medical staff credential verification

Blockchain maintains an immutable record of healthcare professionals' verified credentials, such as licenses, certifications, and work history. Thus, healthcare organizations can validate staff qualifications and eligibility quickly, without bringing into question the documents’ authenticity.

Healthcare insurance

When a person applies for a healthcare insurance plan, blockchain solutions securely store all personal and policy details. Then, thanks to smart contracts, blockchain-powered solutions automatically trigger reimbursements to healthcare providers after receiving an insurance claim for covered medical services.

Research and clinical trial management

Medical research and trials can be managed using blockchain from end to end. The solutions can collect participants’ e-consents, log and store research data and insights on a secure distributed ledger. Thanks to this technology, the whole clinical trial process becomes easy to verify and monitor.

Genome sequencing

Den blockchain genomics market is growing quickly, with an impressive annual growth rate of 59.6% from 2024 to 2034. Blockchain technology makes it possible to securely store vast amounts of DNA sequencing data and give access to authorized clinicians. In doing so, blockchain helps foster collaboration between institutions and ensure the integrity of sensitive genetic data.

Blockchain medical records management

Supply Chain Management (SCM)

Drug traceability

Medical staff credential verification

Healthcare insurance

Research and clinical trial management

Genome sequencing

Join healthcare businesses that already benefit from blockchain

Benefits of blockchain in healthcare

Förbättrad dataintegritet och säkerhet

With blockchain, healthcare data remains unaltered and secure thanks to permanent, encrypted records. This tamper-proof system combined with cryptographic methods like zero-knowledge proofs, protects patient privacy and reduces the risk of data breaches, ensuring trust across the healthcare organization.

Bedrägeribekämpning

Blockchain technology in healthcare helps prevent fraud by creating immutable and transparent records of every transaction. Each medical claim, patient interaction, or prescription is securely recorded on the blockchain, making it nearly impossible to alter or falsify data, reducing the risk of billing fraud and identity theft.

Better data interoperability

Blockchain enables seamless sharing of patient data across different medical institutions within the blockchain network. This standardized system enhances collaboration, improves care and trial coordination, and ensures that all parties have access to up-to-date, accurate patient information.

Top RPA platforms for healthcare

Avaneer Health
Medicalchain
Canadian Blood Services
Nebula Genomics
Chronicled
Mayo Clinic

Avaneer Health launched a private peer-to-peer blockchain network for several leading US healthcare organizations, including CVS Health, Cleveland Clinic, and Elevance Health. The solution fosters collaboration and sharing of real-time patient data to enhance care quality.

Medicalchain developed an EHR platform that uses blockchain technology to store, manage, and share health records. The platform was adopted by The Groves Medical Group, a leading UK medical practice, and allowed it to manage health records securely and accept cryptocurrency as payment for health services.

Canadian Blood Services, a charitable healthcare organization, implemented blockchain for healthcare to manage the blood products supply chain. The organization scans and records each new blood donation on the decentralized digital ledger to achieve real-time traceability.

Nebula Genomics launched a blockchain-based decentralized platform for genomics data sharing. The solution helps create a comprehensive genetic database for medical research by collecting patients’ genomic data in return for compensation.

Chronicled, a blockchain product company, developed a pharmaceutical blockchain network MediLedger, to help enhance the medication supply chain. The network participants include market-leading companies like Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, and Cardinal.

Mayo Clinic, a private US academic medical center, adopted a blockchain platform for a multicenter pulmonary arterial hypertension trial that covered 10 research sites and 500+ patients. The blockchain solution provided a decentralized ecosystem to capture clinical data, manage trial documents, and collect electronic consent.

Challenges of blockchain in healthcare

High implementation risks and costs Before diving into blockchain adoption, healthcare organizations should conduct a thorough cost-benefit analysis and pilot projects to evaluate the system’s impact. Addressing operational costs early and identifying potential savings helps mitigate risks and justify the investment.

Limited scalability and data storage We create a solid scalability plan when designing a new solution or improving the existing one. For example, to handle growing data volumes when adopting blockchain, you can store patient information in regular databases and hash data on the blockchain. With this approach, data changes are traceable, and records do not take up too much storage space.

Concerns about data privacy and security While blockchain is resilient to many typical software vulnerabilities, it is still not immune to code exploits and social engineering techniques. When developing healthcare blockchain solutions, Innowise’s team carefully tests the software to ensure quality and security, implements zero-knowledge proofs, and conducts continuous security monitoring.

Limited integrations with legacy systems Many legacy healthcare solutions are not compatible with blockchain technology. Innowise considers interoperability from the start of the project, develops custom APIs or connectors, and conducts software updates that facilitate blockchain software integration. To overcome this, we also suggest market-available blockchain platforms that fit your integration needs best.

Introduce blockchain into your healthcare or pharmaceutical workflows

Future of blockchain in healthcare

Even though there are some challenges ahead, blockchain has much potential for the healthcare industry. Over the next few years, we’ll likely see it used in a broader range of areas, including data analytics, more inclusive clinical trials, asset tokenization, international data sharing, and improving patient engagement.

Advanced data analytics and AI integration

Now that AI and data analytics are applied in multiple areas of healthcare — from disease diagnostics to prevention — having access to comprehensive data sets is essential. By training AI models on blockchain-stored research data or records, healthcare institutions can drive value from information without compromising privacy.

Inclusive clinical trials

Decentralized clinical trials powered by blockchain will enable global participation without geographical limitations, opening up new research opportunities thanks to a broader and more diverse participant base. Blockchain will make clinical trials more inclusive and ensure that patient consent, research data, and trial results are secure and immutable.

Organ tracking

With blockchain proven efficient for tracking medical supplies’ and medications’ journeys, it’s only natural to apply the technology for tracking organ transplants. Blockchain solutions can aggregate all information on organ sourcing, transportation, and transplantation and promote trust and ethical compliance.

Tokenization of healthcare assets

A trend for healthcare tokenization will likely pick up the pace in the coming years. By turning healthcare assets, like patient data, clinical trials, and medical services, into tokens, organizations will be able to exchange them on the blockchain securely. It will lead to traceable transactions in all areas of healthcare — trials, treatments, and insurance.

Cross-border health data exchange

As healthcare becomes more globalized, blockchain will likely play a role in seamless cross-border clinical data exchange. Thanks to international blockchain networks, patient data can be securely and consensually shared between countries to ensure informed healthcare services, and improve clinical research, treatment development, and medical care worldwide.

Patientengagemang

Instead of letting healthcare providers govern people’s personal medical histories, blockchain solutions will give patients control over their health data. In the coming years, people will be able to provide healthcare professionals with access to their records using tokens, like Soulbound tokens (SBT). Some routine workflows, like receiving medical certificates, also can be automated using smart contracts. Thus, individuals will take a more active role in managing their care, being able to monitor their records, transfer them between providers, and, potentially, sell their data to clinical research institutions.

Embrace blockchain for your healthcare business

With tamper-proof records and smart contracts, blockchain can solve some of the toughest challenges — managing the growing amounts of patient data, preventing fraud, and improving care coordination. Now, many market leaders from healthcare and pharmaceutical domains, including Pfizer, AstraZeneca, and Mayo Clinic, have adopted the technology, anticipating its mainstream growth.

If you are not sure if blockchain can help solve the challenges of your healthcare business, feel free to reach out to our team. With practical experience in blockchain solutions development, Innowise can help you assess technology’s viability for your business, as well as plan and develop a state-of-the-art blockchain solution.

FAQ: blockchain in the healthcare industry

Blockchain in healthcare is used to ensure that medical data is tamper-proof, traceable, and accessible only to authorized parties. Core use cases of blockchain in healthcare are storing and sharing medical records, the provenance of pharmaceuticals, insurance claims management, medical staff credentialing, clinical trials, and genomics.

The main downsides of blockchain technology in healthcare include high investments and risks, potential scalability challenges, data storage issues, security and compliance concerns, interoperability concerns, and possible resistance when it comes to technology adoption by healthcare professionals.

Several pharmaceutical companies, including Pfizer, Merck, and GlaxoSmithKline, are exploring blockchain to enhance supply chain transparency, combat counterfeit drugs, and ensure regulatory compliance. One promising blockchain initiative for the pharma industry, IBM's Food Trust Blockchain network, includes pharmaceutical giants and strives to improve the traceability of drugs from manufacturer to patient.

Blockchain has the potential to transform healthcare — enable secure data sharing across various providers, reduce administrative costs, and, ultimately, improve patient outcomes thanks to timely access to correct information. Decentralized by its nature, blockchain reduces the risk of data breaches. The technology can also enhance interoperability, streamline insurance claims, eliminate healthcare fraud and counterfeit medication distribution.

Aleh Yafimau Leveransansvarig på Innowise

Datum: 24 januari 2025

Aleh Yafimau Leveransansvarig på Innowise

Datum: 24 januari 2025

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