The article is re-published here with the author’s permission. The article was first published on the author’s LinkedIn pulse blog.
A person by the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto published a white paper in 2008, introducing bitcoin and applications of the blockchain. The blockchain is a decentralized digital ledger, the technology underlying bitcoin: a distributed network, a shared ledger, and digital transactions. In healthcare such could mean “… blockchain technology as a way to streamline the sharing of medical records in a secure way, protect sensitive data from hackers, and give patients more control over their information.”
Estonia was the first country to implement a blockchain into their electronic healthcare record (EHR) system with the collaboration of a local company established in 2008 named Guardtime, using keyless signature infrastructure (KSI). The integrity solution KSI means in short: verifying the data without a third party, keys or credentials to access the ledger and compromise the ehr.
YouTube – “Implementation of blockchain-projects in Estonia”
In Tallinn, Estonia at eHealth Tallinn, Mirko De Maldè will moderate Blockchain: Unleashing the Power of Free-Flowing Data with speakers Dr. Catherine Mulligan, Jaan Priisalu, and Dr. Christian Dierks.
I recently had a conversation with Mirko, he stated:
“The blockchain is likely to have a profound impact on the future of healthcare, making it possible to move forward from volume-based to value-based healthcare. Concrete patient empowerment, with unprecedented control over personal datasets, together with enhanced interoperability, could particularly benefit the most fragmented healthcare systems, as the Italian one, facilitating data portability and patients’ mobility, and enabling – especially when it comes to chronic disease – the shift to personalized, proactive and participatory care by” Mirko De Maldè.
The blockchain in healthcare via Periscope with Mirko De Maldè, HIMSS Italy session in Malta
As healthcare technology evolves globally, accuracy becomes even more crucial. Data entered in electronic healthcare records need to be as accurate as possible because future clinical decision making will be based on prior and real-time information. The blockchain is a ledger to secure healthcare data, one of its main values are benefits associated with having a unique identifier for each patient that go beyond healthcare programs, jurisdictions.
This article was originally published on the HIMSS Europe Blog.
This is the follow-up Periscope from ehealthtallin in Tallinn, Estonia
Research, thoughts, and opinions are my own. Further references can be found on my personal sites innonurse.info and ammende.info
Author
Danielle Siarri
Speaker | Moderator | HealthIT Advisor | Social Media Practitioner | Clinical Marketer | SM Ambassador. Danielle has a Master of Science in Nursing Informatics and is a registered nurse with experience ranging from hospital setting of transplants and trauma to case manager in the corporate environment. Danielle is a contributor to the Philips Innovation Matters Blog, Microsoft Intel in Health Nurse Blog, Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS), the European Union of HIMSS and LinkedIn published author. Danielle is very active on social media and is #44 of the Top Health Information Technology 100 (#HIT100)
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