There’s a lot of talk as to who owns your medical identity, how electronic health records are handled, remediation of healthcare data breaches, etc, but the next big topic of discussion are blockchains. What are blockchains? Can healthcare data truly be secure with them?
Imagine if all electronic medical records (EMRs) and other electronic health data in the U.S. could be shared—quickly and securely—to advance medical research and promote preventive medicine while drastically reducing payer and provider costs on data access and exchange.
Sound like a pipe dream? It may not be, according to some who believe in the emerging technology of blockchains.
“Blockchains give us a real chance, another go to try to save our bloated healthcare system,” writes Afsaneh Naimollah, managing partner at XEN Partners. Similarly, healthcare business and technology executive Peter B. Nichol writes that “Blockchain opportunities are changing healthcare globally—blockchain is fitting into a new world.”
Read on to learn more about blockchains and how they’re revolutionizing the sharing of PHI.