Record Your Health in a Block using Blockchain

Lilly Desai,
Consulting Practice Director,
Oracle Financial Services Software Ltd

was watching an episode of a popular medical series where a senior citizen meets with an accident on his tour and gets admitted to the local hospital in a serious condition. Given the our and gets admitted to the local hospital in a serious condition. Given the seriousness of the situation, the doctor attending him tries to extract information from the patient on his medications. A procedure followed so that he accidentally does not administer a drug which could negatively interact with any of the patient's medication. Despite this the old man misses to inform the doctor about a medicine which he is allergic to, resulting in a heart attack an hour later. Sad and Unfortunate.

One may ask, who would be relying on the information provided by a 90-year-old senior citizen, knowing the fact that memory losses are common among senior citizens. But what could the doctor have possibly done in this case without any source of information? Where was his EHR and could that have helped.

Debatable? Let's see why?

What is an Electronic Health Record (EHR)

An EHR or an Electronic health record is a digital version of a patient’s paper chart. They are real-time records that make information available instantly and securely to authorized users.

They give the doctors access to patient medical histories, diagnoses, medications, treatment plans, immunization dates, allergies, prescription records and past test results.

Comprehensive, well documented and accurate EHRs have shown to improve the quality of patient care. Potentially preventing deaths from heart attacks or cancer.

Sounds cool eh!! But you would be surprised to hear that even these digitally maintained records are posed with several challenges sometimes.

Challenges with EHRs

• Primarily, these EHRs were designed and used keeping billing purposes in mind.

• The User Interfaces of some are far from being intuitive and user friendly.

• However, for once let us assume that they are still maintained to the level of accuracy expected. We are still faced with the most critical challenge which is interoperability.

• However, for once let us assume that they are still maintained to the level of accuracy expected. We are still faced with the most critical challenge which is interoperability.

Blockchain Technology for EHRs?

To avoid such situations, all patients and doctors should have a secure real-time access to these records anytime and anywhere making Blockchain technology as one of the obvious choices to facilitate these requirements.

In a simple words, Blockchain is a immutable database or continuously growing record, called blocks. Each blocks are linked and secured using cryptography where each block contains hash of previous block.

A nationwide block-chain-based approach would allow patients as well as doctors and hospitals to have access to an evolving database of the the most important data of their lives – “Health Data” when they need it the most. Anywhere and Anytime that too safe and secure. Every single block in the network could contain the patient's complete medical history in an encrypted fashion. The patient owns this block and reserves the right to share this information.

To summarize, Blockchain technology could aid EHRs in the following ways:

• Better privacy protections

• Easier and more efficient information exchange

• More patient control over their data

Healthcare data - A Goldmine out there

Healthcare industry operates with overwhelming amounts of data. With individual data being captured regularly, just imagine the quantity of the data that would have been captured and how could it be leveraged.

• This data could help researchers establish patterns and apply their research accordingly in clinical trials to identify vaccines.

Blockchain & Healthcare in the News Already

Blockchain for Healthcare and Life Sciences is in the news already. Did read up a recent announcement of an Estonia-based startup Healthureum bringing Blockchain to Indian healthcare through an Ethereum-based platform that consolidates all medical data and secures it with encrypted codes.

Blockchain for Healthcare and Life Sciences is in the news already. Did read up a recent announcement of an Estonia-based startup Healthureum bringing Blockchain to Indian healthcare through an Ethereum-based platform that consolidates all medical data and secures it with encrypted codes.

Implementation Challenges

I am sure this implementation comes with its own set of challenges like performing analytics on encrypted data, adhering to HIPPA rules and regulations, or caution to apply new technology for an industry as vast as this, but I am sure that will be figured out too in no time.Waiting to see my dreams turning into reality in this country!!

Implementation Challenges

I am sure this implementation comes with its own set of challenges like performing analytics on encrypted data, adhering to HIPPA rules and regulations, or caution to apply new technology for an industry as vast as this, but I am sure that will be figured out too in no time.Waiting to see my dreams turning into reality in this country!!

As I write this article, I have a close relative battling cancer being subjected to multiple treatments across hospitals and really wish that there was some way to have diagnosed his condition much earlier. Hope to see some breakthrough in this space.