Blockchain technology is revolutionizing industries like finance and health care all around the world. With applications such as electronic health records and counterfeit pharmaceuticals, blockchain seems poised to make a lasting impact on health care services. In order to understand where blockchain’s role in health care is headed, we need to look at what it is. Blockchain is a ledger of transactions that lays out a history of all cryptocurrency transfers that take place in a particular cryptocurrency network. The ledger records information about those transfers and presents them in a chronological order that cannot be manipulated by anyone.
This is especially useful in the healthcare industry since it prevents providers from tampering with a patient’s medical records in order to make themselves look better. Currently, blockchain technology is used by many different industries to record transactions. It will soon be implemented in the healthcare industry, though, as electronic health records are becoming increasingly popular. The implementation of this technology could affect how patients interact with their providers and how providers interact with other hospitals and healthcare-related companies.
Health Care Companies’ Interest in Blockchain:
For many people, healthcare is a matter of life or death, and for others, it is merely an expensive means to maintain their lifestyle. For those who regard it as a matter of life or death, the interest in blockchain is piqued. Healthcare has a deep and long history encompassing all aspects, from curing diseases to providing prescription drugs. The internet and social media have made the most of these forms of healthcare, but they are not replacing traditional forms of healthcare. Rather, they have been integrated into it.
For example, people are now able to receive prescription drugs through the internet, through a smartphone application, and even at an ATM, all powered by blockchain technology. This is one of the many ways in which blockchain technology is being used to improve healthcare. Blockchain may also be used to record medical data remotely, and this would allow health care providers from around the world to access medical records from wherever they are located.
The Challenges of Blockchain for Health Care:
As blockchain technology is widely adopted, the issues brought upon by its participation in the healthcare industry will have a greater impact on the health of patients and their providers. Issues of privacy and security will become very challenging. Although this technology is a useful tool for the healthcare industry, it contains the same flaws that many other technologies face on a daily basis. The most notable of these flaws is that it is not entirely secure, specifically against hackers. Blockchain technology functions well until someone corrupts the records within it.
The most important potential drawbacks:
Cryptocurrency:
One of the biggest drawbacks to blockchain technology is the cryptocurrency that is used within it. Cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin and Ethereum have made some people incredibly rich, both financially and through their dealings in the healthcare industry. With this kind of prominence, there has been a lot of attention on cryptocurrencies. This attention has only heightened due to the 2017 Bitcoin bubble that saw many people become millionaires off of investment returns. However, this also created many scammers around the world who took advantage of people’s excitement over cryptocurrencies. This is only one of the many reasons that blockchain technology may not be the best solution to health care problems. Interested in learning more about cryptocurrency and the healthcare industry? Check out the-bitcoinmotion.com.
NFTs:
Another prominent issue with the blockchain industry is that it uses non-fungible tokens known as NFTs. These tokens are a piece of code that is unique to only one specific object. This creates problems for the healthcare industry due to the fact that there needs to be a specific code for each and every product that is being used. If the NFTs are not created properly, then it will make tracking products much harder than if blockchain technology were not involved. For example, if a medical record was in a blockchain ledger and it didn’t have an NFT on it, then there would be no link between the two.
Security:
Recently, there has been a lot of attention regarding the security of data that is held on its blockchain. This is created by the fact that the computers used to mine cryptocurrency are not always safe. A lot of these computers are owned by an individual or group who wants to make money through their own mining operations. With this power come the problems of security that many other blockchain-based applications face, such as hacking from those who want to steal information from those health care providers.
Conclusion:
Today, the healthcare industry is looking to use blockchain technology in order to create greater transparency and accountability throughout the industry. The healthcare industry can be very inefficient due to human error and fraud, so blockchain technology may help eliminate that. For example, the pharmaceutical industry could require that all of the medical products used by patients have an NFT associated with them. This would allow everyone involved in the patient’s treatment process to view what exactly they were using.
