Blockchain in Healthcare
Decentralized Computing Changing the Industry
The Big Picture
You have probably heard that the digital health market is booming. In the U.S. alone, companies raised $7.4 billion in 2019, according to Rock Health. The same source has found that $3.1 billion was invested in the first quarter of 2020 - before the COVID-19 pandemic.
And it's not just an American thing only. Another source, StartUp Health, claims that a total of $13.7 billion was invested in digital health companies across the world in 2019. They have also summed up all the investments since 2010 - and have found that, so far, a whopping $70 billion was invested in this sector!
Add the coronavirus pandemic to the mix and you get a market that is steaming hot with companies both big and small fighting for their piece of the ever-growing pie.
Our goal is to provide you with useful information so that you too could participate and compete. Whether you want to start brand new or grow an exiting digital health business, we think we could help. That's where our reports kick in. Read on for details...
Report Introduction

Blockchain is one of those buzz words you can hardly miss in the media these days. Yes, it was propelled to the public imagination with the rise of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, but the technology can have many other uses cases beyond moving money from one side of the planet to the other.
In fact, it is now in minds of many tech giants and even governments which can clearly see blockchain's power to transform how businesses operate by decentralizing business models, creating more efficient processes, and providing a more secure and reliable way to exchange data.
The healthcare industry is one of the sectors where blockchain can really prove its worth. For one thing, it can reduce the liability and accuracy concerns related to the exchange of medical data, while providing cryptographic security to protect patient identity "out of the box." Eventually, every patient will have its own "data wallet" to store and manage his/her medical records, and provide third parties with access to that data when needed.
Beyond health records, the technology could also be used to automate many administrative tasks in healthcare, thus removing human errors in areas such as payment processing and claim adjudication, which in turn could lead to improved accuracy and reduced costs.
Another use case for blockchain is in supply chain management, where a decentralized network could help medical suppliers and pharmaceutical companies better track how their products are moving from the production facilities around the world to a local pharmacy and to the patient.
And that's just a start... In this research brief, we'll take a look at some of the use cases for blockchain in the healthcare space. As the possibilities of and interest in the technology grow, more companies will be jumping on the bandwagon, creating even better solutions some of which we may not be able to imagine today. And that, we think, is what the idea of progress is all about.
- About this research brief
- Introduction
- Blockchain Basics
- What is Blockchain?
- How Blockchain Works?
- Public & Private Blockchains
- Side Chains, Child Chains, On-Chain and Off-Chain Data
- Business Use Cases for Blockchain
- Blockchain Glossary
- Challenges
- Blockchain and GDPR
- Blockchain & Healthcare
- Supply Chain
- Health Records and Interoperability
- Patient Matching
- Patient Engagement
- Care Coordination
- Genomics
- Insurance Claims Processing
- Medical Billing
- Clinical Trials
- Fighting the Opioid Epidemic
- Security
- Research & Development
- And more...
- Projects & Initiatives
- IBM Working With the FDA, CDC to Study the Use of Blockchain to Improve Public Health
- Healthcare Giants Testing a Blockchain-Based System to Tackle Care Provider Data Issues
- Mount Sinai Has a Center for Biomedical Blockchain Research
- Nokia Testing Blockchain For Sharing Personal Health Data Via Wearable Smartwatch
- BlackBerry Working with ONEBIO to Create a Blockchain-Based Ecosystem for Medical Data
- MediBloc, Massachusetts General Hospital Collaborate on Blockchain- and AI-based Initiatives
- UNODC, Doc.com Team-up to Launch Blockchain-Based Telemedicine and Telepsychology in East Africa
- Aetna, Anthem, HCSC, PNC Bank and IBM to Establish a Blockchain-Based Ecosystem for the Healthcare Industry
- MetLife Testing New Blockchain Health Insurance Product That Eliminates Claims
- Bitfury, Longenesis and MDW To Create a Next-Gen Platform for Medical Imaging and Diagnostics Data
- ConnectedLife, Ocean Protocol Team-Up to Combat Parkinson’s Disease
- Healthcare Payments Network InstaMed Looking to Leverage Blockchain for Providers, Payers and Consumers
- Armenia Partners with WHISE-Embleema to Modernize Digital Healthcare Through Blockchain
- UAE Health Ministry Launches Blockchain-based Platform for Medical Data
- Insurance Service Providers in China Rely on Blockchain to Fast Track Claims Payout Amid Coronavirus Outbreak
- Solve.Care Launched the Blockchain-powered Global Telehealth Exchange
- Conclusion
- List of Companies
- AHA Health
- AIDOC
- Akiri
- AmChart
- BioLife
- Bitmark
- BlocHealth
- Block Verify
- BlockMedX
- BlockPharma
- BowHead Health
- BreastWeCan!
- BurstIQ
- CareChain
- CareParrot
- Change Healthcare
- Chronicled
- Clinical Blockchain
- CoinMD
- Coral Health
- CoverUS
- Curisium
- Dentacoin
- Digipharm
- DNAtix
- doc.ai
- Doc.com
- Embleema
- EncrypGen
- Enigma
- Factom
- Guardtime
- GYM Rewards
- Hashed Health
- Hayver
- Health Linkages
- Health Wizz
- HealthCombix
- HealthDex
- Healthereum
- Healthureum
- HealthVerity
- Hearthy
- Hilbi
- HIT Foundation
- HSBlox
- HWarp
- Hypertrust X-Chain
- IncentHealth
- Iryo
- Kalibrate Blockchain
- Lancor Scientific
- Longenesis
- Lumedic
- LunaDNA
- Lympo
- Medable Insight
- MediBloc
- Medicalchain
- MedicCoin
- MediConnect
- MedRec
- MintHealth
- Modum
- Mosio
- MyndVR
- Nebula Genomics
- Netki
- NeuroMesh
- Ocean Protocol
- ONEBIO
- Open Health Network
- Opu Labs
- Patientory
- Peer Ledger
- PikcioChain
- PointNurse
- PokitDok
- ProCredEx
- Proof Work
- Robomed
- ScalaMed
- Shivom
- SimplyVital Health
- Skychain
- Snark Health
- Sober Network
- Solve.Care
- Spiritus
- SweatCo
- The LinkLab
- Tierion
- TimiCoin
- TrustedHealth
- UHX
- VitalHub
- WELL
- Witty Health
- YouBase
- Zenome
- Total number of companies mentioned in the report: 100
11 Sectors That Could Be Improved with Blockchain
Blockchain can reduce the liability and accuracy concerns related to the exchange of medical data, while providing cryptographic security to protect patient identity "out of box." Eventually, every patient will have its own "data wallet" to store and manage his/her medical records, and provide third parties with access to that data when needed.
Here are 11 sectors in healthcare that could be improved with blockchain (and we go in more details in the full report):
1. Supply Chain Management
In the healthcare space, supply chain management (SCM) solutions are employed by manufacturers of pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and other healthcare supplies and equipment. Compared to regular, centralized solutions, the one based on blockchain improves traceability, contract enforcement & management, damage & mishandling management, oversight on counterfeiting, auditing, and at the end -- consumer trust, with end-users being able to learn the ins and outs of an item they are looking to buy.
2. Health Records Management
Blockchain's ability to use time stamping to authenticate changes to a dataset, even if more than one user has permission to edit a document, is said to be ideal for managing Electronic Health Records (EHR) data. In fact, current EHR systems were not designed to manage multi-institutional, life-time medical records. In contrast, a blockchain-based system puts the patient in the driver's seat, letting him/her authorize third parties such as doctors and nurses to access and modify their health records. Also, it is the patient who is able to let health systems share these records with other organizations.
3. Population Health
Generally speaking, on the other end of most EHR solutions is the population health "module." And with a blockchain-based EHR, organizations across the healthcare spectrum can potentially get access to higher quality data, which should then aid their population health efforts while making sure patients get more personalized treatments.
4. Patient Matching
A blockchain-based system can meet the needs of master patient ID as long as there is consensus on what the requirements should be. And that's arguably the harder part -- for all the parties to agree on what constitutes a global or universal patient ID, and later implement it in their respective solutions. Then, once an agreement on a starting point for patient ID is reached, blockchain can meet those needs and be flexible enough to keep up with the pace of change.
5. Patient Engagement
When the patient data is stored in a blockchain, it can be easily and safely moved between existing physician and patient data silos, all while offering improved data management and security. In addition, because of the technology's underlying structure, a blockchain-based solution could offer digital incentives to encourage patients/users to complete certain fitness activities and take charge of their own healthcare, with their efforts earning them tokens.
6. Care Coordination
Blockchain as a decentralized ledger can play an important role to store not only patient data but also all encounters a patient has with healthcare providers. Such, unifying solution could go beyond "basic" health records to include longitudinal data to the mix, linking and connecting all care provider encounters and communication through a single platform.
7. Genomics
Compared to the popular services like 23andMe and Ancestry, a blockchain-based system could include end users in the equation, allowing them to control their own genomic data and profit from sharing it. In this scenario, users would get discounted rates for whole genome sequencing if they agree to share their data to third parties. This in turn could lead to an increase in the amount of genomic information available for analysis from where machine learning algorithms would kick in to find correlations between genetic variants and diseases from these larger data sets.
8. Insurance Claims Processing
The current system entails all brokers and insurers involved in an insurance contract independently running all of the checks, thus creating significant duplication and delay in the placement process which impacts the client. With blockchain, all the relevant data is stored in one place and available to those who require access, removing the need to check the same data multiple times. Moreover, the system could be developed to use smart contracts to "tune into other blockchains" to further streamline procedures, and shorten the application process from an average of 45 days to near real-time.
9. Clinical Trials
Clinical trials are said to be among the best use cases for blockchain. For start, blockchain acts as an ultimate data notary, storing and securing data as it happens. It provides a safe environment that is virtually impossible to hack, infringe or steal -- while making auditing that much easier. In addition, a blockchain-based system can streamline patient recruitment, consents and use smart contracts to automate many of today's manual tasks. For instance, a simple mechanism could be deployed to automatically move patients from one group or one phase to the other once certain conditions have been met.
10. Fighting the Opioid Epidemic
A few experts have suggested that blockchain could be a useful tool in combating the opioid epidemic. For start, the technology's ability to improve supply chain management makes it ideal for keeping a close eye on opioids (and any other drug for that matter), tracking them from production down to local pharmacies. Also, a blockchain-based system could also aid in population health efforts of hospitals, health systems and governments; helping them better control the outbreaks.
11. Security
Storing and securing data in a blockchain across multiple nodes could prevent ransomware attacks. If a hacker manages to get hold of one computer in the network, there are always others that contain the same data. And even with all the data from the blockchain at hand, a hacker could do little without private keys. That's the whole point, to encrypt the data so it falls into the wrong hands -- it can't be misused, all while having reserve copies on other nodes in the network.
...
And this is just the tip of the iceberg. We go into much more details in the report.
All It Takes Is a Single Idea...
You can hardly remove yourself from the digital health revolution. Whether you're a health professional, software developer, advocate or a government employee -- this emerging trend is hard to miss. Heck, at some point, all of us will experience (and benefit from) digitized healthcare as patients.
Our reports will help you get to know the market. You'll learn about specific segments of the digital health market, new and emerging technologies, who the main players are, and more.
All it takes is a single idea to help you:
- Find a new partner
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- Start a new project or company
- Get a new (better) job
That single idea alone will easily justify your purchase of our report(s). And if you don't like what you're getting, you have 30 days to ask for a refund. There is really nothing to lose and so much to gain.
Is This The Report For You?
DHbriefs reports are made for today's busy people; let us mention the three big groups:
Pharma
You probably already know Big Pharma is investing millions in digital health technologies. After all, it is easier and more affordable to launch a digital therapeutic than develop a brand new drug with all the lab work and trials, let alone regulatory requirements, that come included with a brand new drug launch.
Payors
Digital health apps and services provide insurance companies and other payors with tools they could offer to their customers so they could lead healthier lives. As a result, payors get to save money and offer better, more personalized services -- i.e. the more you walk every day, the lower premium you end up paying. Ultimately, such incentives also lead to better outcomes.
Software developers
With the growth of digital health, we saw many non-traditional players entering the space -- software developers being one of them. They see there's money to be made by helping doctors and hospitals digitize their businesses while providing patients with that much better services. In that sense, our reports help software developers find their niches in the market and even potential partners.
And that's not all...
We are also confident that our reports will help other parties, including (but not limited to):
- Investors in the (digital) healthcare or those looking to enter the space
- Contract Research Organizations (CROs)
- Healthcare business analysts
- Savvy physicians looking to familiarize themselves with modern technologies
- Government-employed healthcare professionals
- The NGO sector involved in the healthcare space
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