Blockchain technology holds promise for improving healthcare security, efficiency and trust, but must be implemented within appropriate policy and governance structures to be successful, healthcare attorneys with firm Crowell & Moring say. In a report published by Bloomberg BNA, authors Jodi Daniel, former policy director in the Health and Human Services Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT, and Ashley Southerland note that the virtual currency Bitcoin is the best-known example of blockchain technology. Blockchain leaves a very visible trail of transactions, but does not require an intermediary for data exchange. A blockchain on a distributed set of computers--Bitcoin only uses one--increases the value many times over, they say. In a permissioned system, only certain computers have access to the information and each user must have specific authorization and is only allowed to see specific information. Rather than serving as a central repository, the chain only points to the location of records, making it difficult to hack, according to Peter Nichol, former IT chief of the Connecticut state health information exchange. He predicts it will be “commonplace” by 2020. The chain maintains a real-time record that’s identical on each computer. The implications are huge for interoperability, Daniel and Southerland say, creating one immutable record, furthering research with both provider and patient input and more effective consent/permissions management. Still, they say, governance issues to be determined include: More than 70 entries were submitted to ONC’s recent blockchain challenge. The ideas for using the technology included providing improved real-time claims processing, reducing fraud and using wearables and other technologies to develop patient-related outcome measures from personalized data streams.
Blockchain technology has the potential to enhance healthcare security , efficiency and trust , but successful implementation requires appropriate regulatory and governance structures , according to a report by law firm Smith & Moring . Report authors , Jodi Daniel and Ashley Smith , describe how blockchain 's distributed nature maintains an identical real - time record on each computer with major implications for privacy . They suggest governance issues need to be determined around accessibility , patient permissions and the enforcement of privacy and security laws .