Blockchain Technology In Healthcare And Medicine

By Mbuso Mabuza

We live in an era of the digital health revolution where technological and knowledge breakthroughs greatly enhance the care we deliver to patients. However, our healthcare system still holds many friction points.

This book examines cases where Blockchain can be a leverage to address some of healthcare's biggest challenges. Blockchain technology, sometimes considered as the next industrial revolution is rapidly gaining traction in the healthcare industry as one of the most exciting technological developments. It is capable of transforming the healthcare and medical ecosystem with its features, which include decentralisation, anonymity, persistency, transparency, quality, reduced cost and auditability. In particular, blockchain technology presents numerous opportunities for the healthcare industry such as reduced transaction costs, increased transparency for regulatory reporting, efficient healthcare data management and healthcare records universally. This will potentially shift the focus to patients.

However, there are still several open challenges such as cross-border sharing of health data where different and often conflicting jurisdictions exist may hinder the benefit of blockchain's data sharing. Another potential problem that is under-researched and needs further investigation is the capability of the blockchain to store and process massive data access transactions in a timely manner.

The main problem that needs attention from researchers is how the blockchain will operate in complex and diverse communication systems. There is need for further research on innovative solutions that promote blockchain as a service that allows various parties such as networks, devices, users of the Internet of Things paradigm to access basic coherent blockchain infrastructures.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lekwandza Media
• Release date: Mar 1, 2023
• ISBN: 9798201079901

Mbuso Mabuza

Dr Mbuso Mabuza is a highly motivated and multi-skilled international public health professional who has served in the public and private sectors of different countries. He has served as a prevention specialist at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and as a consultant at the World Bank, among others. His mission is to improve health outcomes and to expand quality healthcare experiences amongst all groups of people and influence change and innovation.

Book preview

Preface

We live in an era of the digital health revolution where technological and knowledge breakthroughs greatly enhance the care we deliver to patients. However, our healthcare system still holds many friction points.

This book examines cases where Blockchain can be a leverage to address some of healthcare’s biggest challenges. Blockchain technology, sometimes considered as the next industrial revolution is rapidly gaining traction in the healthcare industry as one of the most exciting technological developments. It is capable of transforming the healthcare and medical ecosystem with its features, which include decentralisation, anonymity, persistency, transparency, quality, reduced cost and auditability. In particular, blockchain technology presents numerous opportunities for the healthcare industry such as reduced transaction costs, increased transparency for regulatory reporting, efficient healthcare data management and healthcare records universally. This will potentially shift the focus to patients.

However, there are still several open challenges such as cross-border sharing of health data where different and often conflicting jurisdictions exist may hinder the benefit of blockchain’s data sharing. Another potential problem that is under-researched and needs further investigation is the capability of the blockchain to store and process massive data access transactions in a timely manner.

The main problem that needs attention from researchers is how the blockchain will operate in complex and diverse communication systems. There is need for further research on innovative solutions that promote blockchain as a service that allows various parties such as networks, devices, users of the Internet of Things paradigm to access basic coherent blockchain infrastructures.

Chapter 1

Overview of Blockchain Distributed Ledger Technology

1.1 Introduction

Blockchain is considered as the next technology-mediated socioeconomic mega trend after the ongoing era of Net Neutrality and Big Data (Gilder, 2018). The hidden in the wings blockchain technology has been recognised as the driver of innovation in various fields, contributing to a creation of a more sustainable world (Rana et al, 2019). It promises to provide humankind with a Cryptocosm cum Life 3.0, hence, regarded as an all-encompassing and disruptive technology (Park, 2021). Technically, blockchain is yet to be adopted by the mainstream industries due to its scalability issues and still limited technical familiarity and skills (Gatteschi et al, 2020).

Blockchain technology was originally intended for attesting the ‘who’, ‘what’ and ‘when’ of digital documents in 1991 (Park, 2021). Left unused for years, an incognito developer with the pseudonym of Satoshi Nakamoto applied it into the first digital cryptocurrency in 2009 – the Bitcoin (Rana et al, 2019). More than a decade into its application in real-life with cryptocurrencies, which are now counted by thousands, blockchain has already proven itself to be a technology that allows to secure digital data controlled only by its users. Even though its first broader application in cryptocurrency is considered as being technically secure, blockchain is subversive to the traditional financial system in the sense that it is not subject to third party scrutiny/attesting by financial institutions such as banks, credit card corporations, the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) system and state financial regulatory authorities (Park, 2021). The expansion of Bitcoin, as well as other digital currencies, has been due to lower transaction costs, high security protocols and lack of inflation with respect to fiat money and no need of a clearing entity or a central bank (Rana et al, 2019).

The number of potentially beneficial areas of social and economic life to which blockchain technology can be applied is daunting. Such potentials become materialised only when the users are able to diversify applications and move on from the current Blockchain technology 1.0 to the next level (Chen et al, 2018; Swan, 2015): Blockchain technology 1.0 (Application in Cryptocurrencies as a peer-to-peer cash payment system); Blockchain technology 2.0 (Applications in stocks, bonds, loans, smart property, and smart contracts); Blockchain technology 3.0 (Application in Government, health, science, literacy, culture, and art).

Many hopes are vested in the use of Blockchain in healthcare, but is it a temporary fad or is it going to revolutionise the field? Blockchain is a technology and technologies are tools, not solutions. There are some friction points in healthcare where Blockchain can really make a difference, and others where it will be completely useless (Andre, 2019.

To explain the Blockchain, we can use a simple metaphor called the digital booklet or magic notebook. Blockchain is a mutual, unchanging record of transactions made from connected transaction blocks and held in a digital booklet (Abujamra and Randall, 2019; Mubarakali, 2020). Imagine a notebook with numerous copies that different people hold. Each copy is a mirror of each other in a way that you write something in one copy, it instantly appears in every other copy. The magic notebook is always in sync.

Building on this metaphor, if one were to write a sentence in the notebook or digital booklet and cross it out later, or modify any other entry, it would be visible from every copy, and the modifications would be instantly be rejected. The magic notebook keeps securely all entries.

One thing that makes the magic notebook special is that it has unlimited pages. People can write as many notes as they like, and the book