Can Blockchain Technology Successfully Address EHR-related Concerns?
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Any development in the EHR scenario is of great relevance to physicians and health systems, medical record custodians, and medical record retrieval companies that are responsible for compiling medical records from diverse sources. One such interesting development is Blockchain technology being used to address EHR-related concerns. A blockchain is a distributed, unalterable database or ledger that stores records in “blocks.” Blocks stored on various storage devices or nodes, collectively form a “blockchain.” No single person/entity can manipulate this ledger or database without everyone else knowing. Improved data accuracy and maintenance are ensured by the fact that the blocks added to the blockchain cannot be altered. Imagine how useful this technology could be in ensuring the integrity of patient records.
What Is So Special about Blockchain? The question is whether blockchain technology can achieve what paper files and EHRs could not, i.e. capture, track and share a patient’s entire medical experience. The significance of Blockchain is its capability to supervise and manage data in a decentralized way. The benefit lies in the fact that patients can be empowered to participate in their own care, which would ultimately lead to better medical outcomes. The EHR was expected to play an important role in empowering the patient and improving health outcomes, but challenges remain. For instance, the EHR was intended to facilitate interoperability, or getting diverse EHR systems to talk to each other and pass on vital information. But this remains beyond reach even now. The distributed ledger form of the blockchain could offer an effective solution to interoperability challenges. In fact, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and the MIT Media Lab have already experimented with the application of blockchain to medical records. Researchers involved in the study say that if
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every EHR sent updates regarding medical problems, allergy lists, medications, and so on to an open-source, community-wide trusted ledger, any additions or deletions to the medical record could be well understood and auditable across organizations. This would help the EHR to display data from every database referenced in the ledger rather than showing data from a single database. The major benefit of this technology is that the end result would be perfectly reconciled community-wide information about the patient, with guaranteed integrity from the point of data generation to the point of use, without manual human intervention. Patients will be ultimately in control of his or her data, which could aid in allowing patients to opt to share their health data with researchers and third parties.
Exciting Blockchain Possibilities The immense possibilities of blockchain were the focus at the “Blockchain 4 Healthcare: Fit for Purpose Session of HIMSS18 in Las Vegas. IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) is already working on advancing the number of blockchain uses in domains such as health records management by self, clinical trial recruitment, pharma and medical device supply chain management, AI and machine learning, IoT, and so on. Experts made the following observations: • Blockchain can better guarantee the traceability, management, pliability, and provenance of healthcare data. • It is already contributing to patient safety, precision medicine, and pharmacovigilance. • By utilizing EHRs, blockchain can ease patient matching and monitoring. • Blockchain has the capability to ensure maintenance and tamper-proof device logs.
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• Manipulation or falsification of data will not be possible in a blockchainbased system due to the mathematical verification of data integrity. What are the distinct advantages of blockchain in relation to electronic health records? • It can reduce the time required to access patient information • Facilitate processes such as medical record retrieval and medical records review • Improve system interoperability and improve data quality • Reduce overhead
costs especially
those associated with the
development and maintenance of legacy health record systems. • When successfully implemented, blockchain for health records would allow data exchange in an efficient, seamless, and consensus-based manner.
Excellent Infrastructure and Successful Implementation Important A blockchain successfully deployed to manage EHRs becomes the unified and common basis for digital health management. Hospitals and care providers need not have a specific version of software or database to access patient data. Being decentralized in nature, the blockchain would allow authorized participants to join an exchange community without having to build data exchange channels between organizations. The information on the chain is authentic because users are required to provide a signature and time-stamp with a private key to access the data. While data is protected from unauthorized persons, genuine patients are enabled easy access to doctors when they need it. The digital signatures ensure a distinctive patient identifier and ensure that all records on the chain bearing that identifier are linked to
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create a comprehensive EHR for each patient across his/her providers and insurers. The blockchain along with EHR enables every provider, patient, health system, payer, medical record, medical device, wearable and so on to be a part of the network. The possibility of sharing vital healthcare information is immensely beneficial to medical peer review physicians and other entities that need quick access to patient medical records. In January 2017, the FDA announced a research partnership with IBM Watson to find ways to safely share data from EHRs, clinical trials, genetic sequencing, and even mobile wearables using the blockchain approach. Hospitals, clinics, and other healthcare organizations must be willing to create the technical infrastructure required if they are to enjoy the full benefits offered by blockchain.
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