Blockchain is a shared, unchangeable ledger that facilitates the process of recording transactions and tracking assets in a business network. Anything of value can be tracked on a blockchain network, reducing risk, and cutting costs for all involved. Healthcare businesses run on information. Blockchain is ideal for delivering information to healthcare providers because it is immediate, shared, and transparent. The use of blockchain in healthcare would provide billions in savings to healthcare providers.
The utilization of blockchain in healthcare would give healthcare providers a shared database of information while providing security, transparency, traceability, and speed. This shared data could bring significant efficiency and savings of more than $2 billion each year while revolutionizing healthcare recordkeeping.
Blockchain will require significant investment by healthcare organizations, including integration with current legacy systems. Although there may be initial resistance to these changes, a cost/benefit analysis showing greater profitability will push the new blockchain technology.
According to a large pilot study conducted by the Synaptic Health Alliance, a coalition of competing healthcare companies, founded by Humana, Multiplan, Quest Diagnostics and United Health Group, blockchain technology would greatly ease the burden of inefficient administrative burdens. Alliance member Multiplan is reporting that their participation in Alliance has already resulted in a 500% ROI annually.
With Blockchain immediately reducing healthcare expenditures, there is great value to looking into various areas where blockchain could transform healthcare.
Each year every healthcare insurer, healthcare system, physician network and hospital spends billions on collecting and updating their database of providers with names, addresses, contact information, insurances accepted, accepting new patients and many other variables. A central, shared database of this information would relieve these entities of this yearly burden and provide numerous cost efficiencies.
Another area of extreme importance in healthcare is matching claims with providers. All healthcare entities want to process and pay claims correctly and quickly. This can be a very difficult and costly task processed by hundreds of employees. With a continuously updated database, employees would no longer have to chase down changes in information and claims would be resolved much faster. As each entity updates their files, the changes are immediately seen by all others in the group saving time and money by utilizing current provider information and claims.
Blockchain could also assist healthcare entities with coordination of benefits, management of patient consent, patient records and scheduling of patient appointments. These applications involve the use of extremely sensitive information, so privacy protections, as well as encryption, would need to be put in place to protect and ensure patient privacy. The ability to instantaneously access all patient information including symptoms, diagnoses, treatments, medications, surgeries from various providers would save money and provide better patient outcomes.
Another area where blockchain would be beneficial is in the hiring process. Any and all information provided on hiring documents would be visible to all involved in the process and help ease verification issues. This would reduce the costs of hiring and improve efficiencies.
In addition to healthcare providers, pharmaceutical companies would benefit from using blockchain to track drugs, which would reduce around $200 billion dollars these companies lose from counterfeit drugs every year.
Moving forward, blockchain offers the healthcare industry the ability to revolutionize many areas of healthcare and reduce administrative burdens. With the potential of saving billions in healthcare costs, it is time for all healthcare entities to work together to achieve these goals through the benefit and use of blockchain.
