- ACN Is on Healthcare Blockchain Journey to Ease Admin Burdens
- Rensselaer Researchers Use Blockchain to Boost Medical Image Sharing
BIS Research forecasts that the global healthcare market will increase at a compound annual growth rate of 64 percent through 2025, reaching a value of $5.6 billion by then.
“The development in providing efficient healthcare services is extensively dependent on advances in information technology, and particularly in the ability to record and store information easily and economically and share it securely among disparate applications and systems. Blockchain can play a critical role in overcoming the shortcomings and challenges associated with legacy systems,” the report observed.
The use of healthcare blockchain for health data exchange is expected to contribute the largest market share, reaching a value of $1.89 billion by 2025. Blockchain can help solve the most widespread problem in healthcare IT systems related to interoperability and non-standardization that has created data silos in the industry, the report observed.
The report identified some key players in the healthcare blockchain market, including Hashed Health, iSolve, Patientory, Medical Chain, Chronicled, FarmaTrust, SimplyVital Health, The Link Lab, IBM, Change Healthcare, Microsoft, and Optum.
Healthcare blockchain will require significant investments by healthcare organizations, including integration with current health IT infrastructure. Blockchain providers could experience resistance from healthcare players regarding changing from legacy systems and processes to blockchain, the report cautioned.
Blockchain Can Save Time, Money for Physician Credentialing
J.P. Morgan recently estimated that healthcare blockchain could save up to 80 percent of the current cost and time invested in physician credentialing.
A physician credentialing application needs to be sent to several organization for verification. As a result, it can be costly and take months to complete.
Using blockchain, the credentialing locations, as well as the physician, can have immediate access to the physician's encrypted credentials.
The physician can transmit changes to his or her credentials to the blockchain network. These changes can be validated by private keys known only to network members and agreed-upon algorithms.
Physicians can provide access codes to hospitals and other healthcare organizations to review their verified credentials.
Blockchain could also be used to improve efficiencies of electronic health records and help healthcare organizations cope with financial pressures.
Data Analytics Could Improve Efficiency, Reduce Costs
Healthcare organizations could also employ data analytics to improve efficiencies and reduce costs, J.P. Morgan related.
“Predictive analytic modeling software can help yield clearer insight into operations, revealing ways to break down barriers between departments and more effectively manage census levels,” J.P. Morgan wrote in a blog post.
Data analytics could be used to improve the healthcare hiring process. Data analytics can indicate which applicants would be the best employees. This can reduce the costs of hiring the wrong candidates and improve the efficiency of the process.
“Going forward, emerging technologies and strategies are indispensable for healthcare systems striving to grow margins in a time when health costs and needs are increasing. Ultimately, hospitals and health systems that find pathways to greater profitability will be best positioned to achieve their primary goal: delivering better care that leads to better patient outcomes,” J.P. Morgan concluded.
