Steemit Crypto Academy – Season 4 - Week 3 - Post for @yohan2on

Question - Research and Discuss the potential applications of Blockchain in the Health care industry

Blockchain technology has been one of the most advanced inventions and innovations created and while it is early days, it has continued to be on constant growth and development ever since it was created a few years ago. Because of blockchain technology capabilities, features and advancements, it is seen as a technology that can be used in almost all industries and sectors to provide solutions. At the moment, blockchain technology has gained a lot of popularity and has gotten too advanced that various industries like the healthcare industry and other sectors are not only seeing the potential and benefits of blockchain technology but are also adopting it to solve problems in the industries and sectors.

At the moment, while various cryptocurrencies are making waves and headlines in the blockchain space, blockchain technology goes beyond the technology that only powers cryptocurrencies, it is so advanced and powerful that it can be used almost anywhere. The internet of things is one area where blockchain technology can thrive as well. As blockchain technology continues to gain more and more adoption, more and more industries will benefit from what it has to offer.

Why the Healthcare Industry Need Blockchain Technology...

The healthcare industry can greatly benefit from blockchain technology in many ways. Even though the technological advancements in the current healthcare industry setup solves a lot of problems and is quite sophisticated, there are a lot of challenges that face the healthcare industry as technology continues to advance. This is where blockchain technology can become beneficial to provide the underlying technology in which the healthcare industry operates. Like I mentioned above, blockchain is a technology that has been around for quite some time now and is continuing to achieve massive growth and gain adoption.

Blockchain is basically a decentralized immutable distributed ledger that processes, records and stores data. By immutable, it means that any records or data that runs through the blockchain cannot be tampered with, compromised or altered, making it a technology that provides an extreme level of security and privacy, a technology that would benefit the healthcare industry where high-level security and privacy are key. While the healthcare industry at the moment has improved massively in terms of technological advancements and what can be done and what is possible, there are also problems and challenges that are associated with it. Because of these problems and challenges associated with the current healthcare industry, it has become one of the major drawbacks in the industry. This is where blockchain technology comes into play, to provide solutions to these main problems and challenges that are associated with the current healthcare industry.

Applications of Blockchain Technology in the Healthcare Industry

Increasing and improving security to private data and medical reports

Improved and advanced security is one of the main benefits of blockchain technology and this can be very useful in the healthcare industry to improve the security of private data and medical reports. At the moment, there have been concerns about the current security in the healthcare industry. Security has been one of the major challenges facing the healthcare industry in the quest to ensure that there is maximum security to private data and medical reports.

While the advancement in the healthcare industry has helped reduce the security risk to the bare minimum, there are still concerns and drawbacks that can be exploited. There have been cases and reports on security breaches in the healthcare industry. This is where blockchain technology can come into play to provide solutions to the drawbacks and ensure that there is maximum security in the healthcare industry. Blockchain is very difficult to hack which makes it difficult for hackers and other malicious actors to have their way. This increases the security of anything stored on the blockchain.

Immutability of stored records and data

This is one of the benefits that blockchain technology can provide to the healthcare industry. Immutability is one of the main characteristics of blockchain, which means that stored data and records on the blockchain cannot be changed, altered or manipulated. This ensures the authenticity of the data and records. Even though the technological advancements in the healthcare industry has done a great well in reducing malicious attacks and other security threats, there are always cases where private records and medical reports were altered or changed for malicious purposes.

Using blockchain to store the records, private data and medical reports solve this problem because blockchain is immutable which means that any record or data stored cannot be altered or manipulated. In the healthcare industry, medical professionals and healthcare workers can store records and data on the blockchain without the fear of alteration or manipulation from malicious individuals.

Improving payment system

Blockchain technology is the underlying technology of cryptocurrency. Cryptocurrency is basically a digital currency that operates on the blockchain, making it easy for anyone to send and receive payment anywhere in the world at any time faster. Cryptocurrency has proven to be a great technology that brings a lot of benefits to the conventional financial system. Before cryptocurrency came into existence, patients can only make payments through physical cash payments, financial services such as PayPal, bank transfers etc. While these modes of payment still work to date, there are challenges and drawbacks that come with it.

Cash payments can be risky as thieves or armed robbers can make away with the physical cash. Individuals who want to make payments for patients’ treatments can lose their physical cash due to various circumstances which can become a huge problem. Also, individuals who don’t have a PayPal account cannot make payments to proceed with patient treatment in cases where they are in different geographical locations. Also, interrupted payments can be a huge issue as well.

There are situations where servers are down or downtime periods that halts payments or slows down payments until the service is restored. This becomes a huge problem that can lead to fatalities because of the inability to make payments on time. With blockchain and cryptocurrency as a payment solution, the healthcare industry can begin to accept cryptocurrency payments, making it possible for anyone to make payments anywhere in the world at any time without the problem of service downtime or interrupted payment or risk of loss of funds. This greatly improves the payment system, making it a more efficient and faster payment solution.

Providing high-level encryption of information and messages

In the healthcare industry, privacy is crucial. There are constant transfers and exchanges of private and confidential information and messages in the healthcare industry. Doctors, scientists, specialists, and other medical professionals are constantly exchanging private and confidential information and communicating with one another to solve problems or overcome challenges.

For instance, scientists who produce and invent new vaccines, or new medicine to tackle certain diseases need maximum privacy and confidentiality when sending and receiving information and messages to prevent interceptions, leaks or hacks. This constant transfer and exchange of information and messages can be an attraction for malicious individuals and hackers who can intercept these messages and information for malicious purposes. Also, some information is meant to be highly private and confidential.

In the conventional healthcare industry, hackers can intercept and tamper with this private and confidential information, which can become extremely problematic if leaked. Blockchain technology can solve this problem by providing high-level encryption methods that can encrypt the messages and information before sending and only the receiver can decrypt the information and message using the required keys. This is very crucial to prevent malicious individuals and hackers from intercepting and getting hold of private and highly confidential information.

Elimination of human and machine errors

The healthcare industry is one of the industries that have zero tolerance for errors as human and machine errors can be disastrous and fatal. Even though the healthcare industry has become so advanced with sophisticated machines and the workers are highly skilled and trained professionals, human and machine errors are bound to happen. Human and machine errors cannot be eliminated when it involves human inputs or automation.

This is normal, however, the rate and extent to which human and machine errors happen become a concern especially in the healthcare industry where errors can be disastrous and fatal. For instance, an error in the composition of medicines and drugs can be disastrous. An error in the inputs or highly delicate data leads to wrong outputs which can be dangerous. Tasks such as this are carried out by highly trained and experienced professionals.

However, there are still elements of the problem of human error. Automation is a solution but it faces the problem of software corruption, hack, interception and tamper by malicious individuals. Blockchain technology provides solutions to this as it ensures that human and machine errors can be eliminated. In the healthcare industry, blockchain technology can be used to automate inputs and outputs without the fear of errors because blockchain is such an advanced technology and how it works makes it is almost impossible for errors.

Improving and enhancing the traceability of medical supplies

This is another strong benefit of blockchain technology in the healthcare industry. Fake supplies have been a major challenge in the healthcare industry. Greedy and malicious individuals produce fake supplies or repackage expired supplies that can be highly fatal if not discovered. These fake supplies can be difficult to trace or identify because of the advancement in technology that makes it possible for these malicious producers to forge and continue their actions and get away with it.

Blockchain technology can help solve this problem as it can improve the system that makes it possible to track and trace supplies. Also, manufacturers can make use of special codes number that can be used to identify genuine and authentic supplies for being used in the healthcare industry. Medical supplies such as medicines can be pass through a verification system that automatically scans all the products to prevent fake supplies and ensure that all the supplies are genuine and authentic.

Improving remote monitoring of patients

Patient remote monitoring is one of the advancements in the healthcare industry. With the technological advancements in the healthcare industry, it is now possible for health professionals such as doctors and specialists to monitor patients without being physically present and without the barrier of geographical location. However, working via the internet can be risky as the regular technology and servers can be hacked. Hackers can have access to the activities and transmitted information.

Also, before technological advancements, doctors and specialists will have to fly to specific locations to monitor or examine patients. There are problems and challenges that are associated with it… travel restrictions, lockdown and other factors can prevent doctors from travelling or be a hindrance to it. This can also prove fatal if patients aren’t attended to due to the unavailability of specialist doctors. Blockchain offers a solution to this issues and challenges. Health professionals can perform safe and secure remote monitoring and examination anywhere in the world.

Providing efficient automation

The health industry is vast. Pharmaceutical companies who manufacture drugs and medicines need efficient automation to eliminate errors. While automation is heavily used in the health industry, there are still challenges that are associated with automation. Machine errors due to software bugs, crashes and fails can be disastrous. A software bug or failure can lead to wrong inputs which produce wrong outputs. In the healthcare industry, there is zero-tolerance for errors because errors can be fatal and disastrous.

While automation eliminates human errors, it doesn’t eliminate machine errors and software bugs and fails. A machine can have a slight malfunction that alters inputs, calculations, measurements and quantity of compositions, resulting in wrong outputs. If not detected, can be disastrous and can lead to heavy loss of money. Blockchain technology solves this problem because since blockchain is immutable and how blockchain technology works, it makes it almost impossible for errors to occur, making it a safe and efficient underlying technology for automation.

Increasing operation speed and reducing operation cost

Blockchain technology can help reduce the cost that comes from manual transfer and transportation of important and confidential documents in the healthcare industry. Also, blockchain technology can help eliminate third parties that add to the cost of operation and slows down the operation process. Even though the internet has made it possible for documents to be transferred at less cost and also reducing the number of third parties involved in the operation process which increases speed, manual processes are still used to date. Physical transfer remains one of the best and private ways to transfer and store confidential documents without the risk of hack.

This physical transfer incurs a lot of costs especially when it involves a transfer to different countries and geographical locations and also the operation process can be very slow. Blockchain technology provides solutions to these problems and challenges as it can eliminate the number of third parties involved in the operation process to increase speed in the process through safe and efficient automation. Also, blockchain technology helps reduce the cost it takes to transfer confidential and private documents. Blockchain will be used to automate the whole transfer process and it uses advanced encryption methods which means that confidential documents in the healthcare industry can be transferred from one place to another faster, at less cost and securely.

Conclusion

Blockchain technology in the healthcare industry is without a doubt a combination that has created a lot of excitement and talking points. Blockchain technology has proven to be not only very powerful but also a technology that can provide solutions in almost any industry, most especially the healthcare industry. Technology is one of the main elements in the healthcare industry and even though the healthcare industry currently has become very advanced and sophisticated especially in the developed countries, there are still problems and challenges that face the healthcare industry and causing drawbacks in its capabilities. This is where blockchain technology becomes beneficial as it can be the underlying technology that provides solutions to these problems and challenges in the healthcare industry.