Blockchain technology is no longer just limited to the crypto space. A study has revealed the potential for involvement in health care. As much as blockchain is renowned for its role in powering bitcoin, technology has made it a rather generic tool that can keep data safe in a structurally spread and encoded ledger. This makes it possible to regulate who can access it and who cannot.
Blockchain, therefore, challenges the traditional way of record-keeping in the health care sector. A single administrator serves as a getaway to patient data. It is now possible to have a single, but shared ledger spread over a network of coordinated and synchronized databases accessible to all authorized medical personnel.
Benefits of Moving Medical Records to Blockchain
There are many benefits of moving medical records to the blockchain. The three most important are listed below.
Privacy and Security
Security stands as the primary benefit of blockchain integration in the health care system. It is impossible to hack a block in the chain without hacking all the blocks within that chain. Blockchain technology is very attractive to the medical personnel and the entire health care system that values secure access to patient and hospital records.
Moreover, adding to the level of security achieved, the medical personnel do not have to keep sending and receiving patient data between each other and the pharmacy department, hence boosting efficiency.
Saves Time and Labour Cost
Blockchain also saves time and reduces the cost of labor that would have otherwise been necessary for handling different roles. When digital transactions such as patients paying their bills or invoices being cleared for suppliers occur, several code bits come up with the digital transaction. Unlike processing transactions manually, blockchain can also handle multiple transactions at a time.
The same principle applies in the case of a patient who is being exposed to several treatments simultaneously. For instance, upon a doctor’s visit, a patient may be taken through a blood test, stool test, provided with a new prescription, and even taken through different imaging techniques like X-ray.
The blockchain technology groups all this information about one patient and shows the details of the doctors who attend to them. What’s more, blockchain stores this data for easy retrieval.
Increases Efficiency
Blockchain technology increases the level of efficiency that is achieved in inpatient treatment. This is done by eliminating the chances of mistakes that come with handing one doctor’s patient data to the other.
It is easy for the doctor, nurse, pharmacist, physiotherapist, accountant and any other medical personnel that the patient deals with; to get a clear picture of what the patient has been subjected to. The information is current at all times, thereby eliminating the chances of personnel handling the patient making mistakes.
Will Blockchain be Fully Adopted by the Medical Sector?
The integration of blockchain in the healthcare arena would significantly transform the medical field. This is because it will change how the health records of individual patients are shared, updated, and stored throughout their time with their physician. It also helps to bring efficiency into patient care.
Blockchain technology can transform health care by putting individual patients at the heart of the healthcare system while at the same time maximizing the level of security, privacy, efficiency, and interoperability of their health information. The technology would provide a new way of exchanging patient health data through secure and more efficient electronic health records.
Providing a safe, effective, and convenient mechanism for exchanging patient health data within the medical industry is incredible. Blockchain ensures that the patient health care records are contained within a decentralized network that makes it easy for physicians to understand the patient better.
