HomeWorkPost-- SteemitCryptoAcademy - Blockchain in Healthcare[@yohan2on]

The lecture taught by the professor was really informative and I love learning more about Blockchain uses in the different sectors. I learn so much and will look forward to for more such topics from professor @yohan2on.

Blockchain is a revolutionary technology that has the potential to change the way the Healthcare Ecosystem is working especially in terms of Data Storage, Security, Supply Chain Management, and Privacy. Privacy is the core feature of Blockchain which is currently become an issue for so many areas of development including healthcare.

// The Healthcare ecosystem is losing $300 Billion each ear due to poor data integration.

The blockchain can provide a new way of Sharing, Analyzing & verifying information with the Secure ecosystem of blockchain it will lead to better coordination in the Research work and Data integration.

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The blockchain is an intricate system used to store data in a way so that you can trust, it can be modified by only certain users and once the data will be stored on the blockchain we can be modified with the person who will have the right key and then a new block will be generated and added in the chain which will have the address of the previous block. Whenever any person will try to modify anything in the block it will not happen because it will ask for the right key for the authentication so this is how we can protect the data from outsiders.

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As the name suggests the blockchain is the chain of blocks where each block will store some information related to the activities, data of the healthcare operations.

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Features of Blockchain:-

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a) Decentralized
b) Transparent
c) Immutable

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Blockchain Applications in Healthcare

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1. Data Sharing:
This is really a big problem because there are many hospitals that don't share the complete details of their patient with them so if the patient needs to go to another Hospital then the Hospital needs to know all the details related to the treatment the patient was going through. However, currently, no hospital would do that maybe because they don't want to publicize their processes or don't wanna lose their patient.

However, if we can implement a blockchain where all the details will be available on the Private blockchain so, in a way, the patient will have ownership (key to access their records) to share his data with whoever he wants to share with. There will be a Block for the patient that will have a Unique Identity, Key, Basic Information, and Records History and this data can be shared only with the permission of the patient.

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2. Research Work: As we have discussed that the patient will have complete records on the blockchain so he is the owner of his information. This would be very easy for Research centers to get the Data from the real person rather than asking for data from the Hospital those data can be misleading. So what will happen is in this process the patient will have the right to take participate in the research by sharing the data or he can deny it.

This way he can also get rewards from the Research center as they don't need to buy the data from the hospital they can directly get it from an authentic source.

3. Data Integration & Privacy :
This is one of the areas where blockchain can bring revolution as we know the current medical system is facing a lot of struggle with Data Integration due to a poor Data storage ecosystem. The poor Data Integration system may lead to mixed health records of the patient, analysis, and privacy. With the help of the blockchain, we can transform these things as Every patient will be assigned a block with a Unique key and the Block can be subdivided further to store his Historical treatment records. This is how we can save the data of the Patient from mess up as the key will be unique and it would be immutable and secure.

We can develop a blockchain power Customer Relationship Management(CRM) too to give the best value to the customer for their trust with the particular hospital.

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4. Supply Chain Management (SCM):

Healthcare Supply Chain Management involves so many processes in between the Invention of the Medicine to the End person. As per the study, 1% of the drug is fraudulent and especially when something is in great demand. A blockchain-powered SCM will guarantee Chain of Custody which will enable Traceability on each level of the supply chain also it will have other features like Private Key and Smart contracts that will ensure credibility of the Pharmaceutical supplier at any delivery step. At every step, a new contract will be signed that will have the address of the previous contract too so if anything wrong happens in between it can be easily identified where it happened.

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Final Thoughts

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The Blockchain is is still in the growing phase and the adoption of it is very fast. I would be very happy to see in the medical field as it is going to transform the way we are Storing the data of the patient, Supply Chain Management, Research works. it will eliminate the draw backs of the tradition ecosystem however to implement blockchain in Healthcare is bit complex however I believe one day we will see blockchain power ecosystem at our nearest Hospital. There are so many projects like PokitDok, FarmaTrust, Medicalchain, Metlife and many more yet to come.

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Estonia is the first country who adopted Blockchain to digitalized the healthcare ecosystem in the county and now all the patient's data, invoices, operations records is being stored on the blockchain . I would very happy to see if my Government takes such initiative to bring the Blockchain the Healthcare.