Blockchain Technology in the Healthcare Industry - Crypto Academy / S4W3 - Homework Post for Professor @yohan2on.

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Hello Steemians, welcome to another week in the Steemit Crypto Academy. I'm glad to be part of the class delivered by professor @yohan2on on Blockchain technology in the Healthcare Industry. I will be performing my homework task in this post.

Blockchain Technology in Healthcare Industry

No nation in the world can thrive without a sound healthcare industry. Basically, the unfortunate occurrence of the Covid-19 pandemic made the world truly understand the proverb "Health is wealth".

According to Investopedia The Healthcare industry consists of all businesses and institutions that manufacture medical equipment or drugs, provide medical services, provide medical insurance, or generally facilitate the provision of healthcare to patients.

Despite the massive and steady Global investments in the healthcare industry, there still exists a wide range of challenges faced in areas concerning data management, embedded communication, data security, and data storage within this industry

However, the integration of Blockchain technology has the potential to transform the healthcare industry into a more patient-oriented ecosystem and solve those aforementioned challenges by increasing the privacy, security, and interoperability of health data.

Blockchain technology would create a better platform to carry out health information exchanges (HIE) by making electronic medical records (EMRs) more secure, efficient, and disintermediated.

Nevertheless, blockchain technology cannot be used for everything in the healthcare industry. Once data is stored on the Blockchain which is a digital ledger, the data becomes immutable.

Therefore very large files or files that are subject to subsequent changes should be kept out of the Blockchain. In addition, every identifying data is restricted from being recorded on the blockchain because of several medical regulations that govern the healthcare industry.

Without a doubt, there are still many other fields in which the Blockchain technology can be applied as regards the healthcare industry and some of these areas include;

• Personal health record data management
• Managing electronic medical record (EMR) data
• Protection of healthcare data
• Point-of-care genomics management
• Tracking of healthcare products.

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Personal health record data management

Blockchain technology as applied to managing personal health records creates a private method of updating and storing sensitive personal health data in an orderly manner on a digital ledger.

Every patient's medical track record becomes immutable once stored on the digital ledger however the blockchain allows new blocks of data to be added to the already existing data on the digital ledger, hence, recorded can easily be updated.

The unique nature of blockchain technology creates interoperability by granting real-time access to these records(based on the permission of the patient) to every medical personnel on the network.

The medicalchain is one big the few projects which use blockchain technology to effectively and securely manage a wide range of health records

Managing electronic medical record (EMR) data

The management of electronic medical records in the healthcare industry is very sensitive as top-notch security systems are needed to help battle malware and hackers from accessing, destroying, or corrupting sensitive healthcare data like a patient’s private key.

However, the secure and cryptographic nature of blockchain technology could easily be used to safeguard and manage these electronic data. In addition, the blockchain will also provide a network where such data can be sent to and received from medical personnel rapidly.

Protection of healthcare data

Unlike the already existing health information exchanges (HIE) where data security is low because of both the human factor and the number of nodes points(medical personnel like doctors, nurses, pharmacists, Secretaries, etc) that is needed to channel patients data from the patients to a storage system.

The adoption of Blockchain technology will make every data immutable once stored on the digital ledger and in addition, every block of data is made secure via encryption with cryptographic hashes that also act as the identity of the block.

In addition, users (medical personnel or patient ) can be identified via their public keys while the private keys or seed phrases are used to access the encrypted data stored on the blockchain when needed.

Point-of-care genomics management

In modern medicine, the DNA sequencing of individuals has become a valuable commodity among many medical research companies. This need to acquire this value has led to arise in genomic data theft.

The adoption of blockchain technology which is known for its high security will prevent such data theft from occurring. In addition, the blockchain networking feature can create a secure medium where buyers and sellers of such genomic information can meet directly and engage in safe trading without the need for expensive middlemen.

Tracking of healthcare products and information

The timestamp feature on the Blockchain can help track the trail of, pharmaceutical supplies,(drugs, medical equipment) across the world.

Although blockchain technology provides very tight security it is very transparent. This unique transparency of the blockchain can help disseminate real-time information about disease reports that can help medical researchers track both the origin and transmission pattern of the disease.

There are a lot of application opportunities of Blockchain technology in the healthcare industry.

Without wasting any more time, I will be describing some blockchain-based projects in the healthcare industry.

Blockchain-based projects in the Health care industry

The number of Blockchain-based projects in the healthcare industry has been on the steady rise and In recent years, healthcare projects based on Blockchain technology are becoming more patient-oriented projects which also help to redefine the work of medical institutions simultaneously. Some of these healthcare projects include;

• Lympo
• Medicalchain
• MediBloc
• EncrypGen
• Blockpharma

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Lympo

The lympo project was launched on the Ethereum blockchain and later bridged to Binance Smart Chain. This healthcare project aims to promote a healthy lifestyle through physical fitness. Whenever a user completes a set of tasks, the user gets paid in LMT tokens and also stands a chance to win NFT's.

This platform can save the user's activity log, offers health and fitness advice based on stored data, and even has a marketplace feature built into the lympo ecosystem where users can purchase healthy lifestyle goods and services in exchange for data and tokens.

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Medicalchain

Medicalchain is one of the few projects in the healthcare industry which has successfully built its own blockchain. It uses this blockchain technology to securely manage a wide range of health records for a smart, quick, and collaborative approach to healthcare.

This ecosystem aims to give patients absolute control over a singular version of their medical data, giving them the power to share their health records accurately with any medical institution within the network.

MyClinic is a project launched on the medical chain network. It is an app that offers access to the patient's secure health records, communication with doctors, and the ability to share medical records with the doctors.

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MediBloc

MediBloc was built on the Panacea blockchain, which offers a very reliable way to store medical data with top-notch privacy. Just like the medicalchain, patients are the top priority on the MediBloc project.

This MediBloc project aims to manage huge amounts of data while building one universal channel for distributing this data.
Recently, MediBloc launched Medipass - an app that allows patients to access their medical records and make insurance claims.

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EncrypGen

This might sound new but if you ever want to sell your DNA data after conducting a DNA test, EncrypGen can make that possible.
You can register as a data provider while pharmaceutical companies and medical institutions in need of such data can register as data buyers on the EncrypGen network.

EncrypGen is launched on the Ethereum blockchain and even has its own token called DNA. DNA token is regarded as the legal tender on the EncrypGen network and can also be stored in a lima wallet.

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Blockpharma

The Blockpharma solution is a project launched on the Crystalchain network and it is focused on offering a permanent solution to the global problem of drug counterfeit with the help of blockchain technology.
The Blockpharma app helps the consumer to accurately verify the authenticity of the box of medicine before buying the drug.

This technological innovation will go a long way to reduce the death toll of people who die due to the ingestion of pirated drugs and will save the pharmaceutical companies a huge chunk of their profits which are lost to combating drug piracy annually.

Conclusion

The healthcare industry became a lot more secure and productive with the integration of Blockchain technology. Although blockchain technology could not solve every problem in the healthcare industry, it sure did create a user-friendly ecosystem in which the patients and consumers were the centers of attention.

Furthermore, blockchain technology still has more to offer the healthcare industry hence, I believe that more investment should be channeled towards that direction.

Thank you @yohan2on for this amazing lesson.