Adoption of Blockchain in Health Care

Gaynor, Mark; Tuttle‐Newhall, Janet E.; Parker, Jessica; Patel, Arti B.; Tang, Clare

doi:10.2196/17423

Cited by 49 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…In the European Union, individual countries may be willing to use blockchain technology for public plans, but it is not clear how blockchain projects meet the EU General Data Protection Regulation privacy standards [ 1 - 4 , 96 , 97 , 104 ]. The general standard of blockchain will accelerate the industry to reach an agreement on blockchain and contribute to the formation of a large-scale ecosystem of social blockchain [ 101 - 103 , 105 - 107 ]. The second is efficiency issues.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Applications of Blockchain in the Medical Field: Narrative Review

et al. 2021

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Background As a distributed technology, blockchain has attracted increasing attention from stakeholders in the medical industry. Although previous studies have analyzed blockchain applications from the perspectives of technology, business, or patient care, few studies have focused on actual use-case scenarios of blockchain in health care. In particular, the outbreak of COVID-19 has led to some new ideas for the application of blockchain in medical practice. Objective This paper aims to provide a systematic review of the current and projected uses of blockchain technology in health care, as well as directions for future research. In addition to the framework structure of blockchain and application scenarios, its integration with other emerging technologies in health care is discussed. Methods We searched databases such as PubMed, EMBASE, Scopus, IEEE, and Springer using a combination of terms related to blockchain and health care. Potentially relevant papers were then compared to determine their relevance and reviewed independently for inclusion. Through a literature review, we summarize the key medical scenarios using blockchain technology. Results We found a total of 1647 relevant studies, 60 of which were unique studies that were included in this review. These studies report a variety of uses for blockchain and their emphasis differs. According to the different technical characteristics and application scenarios of blockchain, we summarize some medical scenarios closely related to blockchain from the perspective of technical classification. Moreover, potential challenges are mentioned, including the confidentiality of privacy, the efficiency of the system, security issues, and regulatory policy. Conclusions Blockchain technology can improve health care services in a decentralized, tamper-proof, transparent, and secure manner. With the development of this technology and its integration with other emerging technologies, blockchain has the potential to offer long-term benefits. Not only can it be a mechanism to secure electronic health records, but blockchain also provides a powerful tool that can empower users to control their own health data, enabling a foolproof health data history and establishing medical responsibility.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Applications of Blockchain in the Medical Field: Narrative Review

et al. 2021

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“…Nonetheless Accordingly, ensuring that blockchain-enabled clinical applications demonstrably comply with applicable laws will be very challenging [9,92]. That said, blockchain advocates place considerable optimism in smart contracts-computer programs that automate the verification, execution, and enforcement of certain terms and conditions of an arrangement, built on top of a blockchain system that enables a distributed ledger to function as a distributed computer [8,[93][94][95]. Accordingly, blockchain systems in combination with smart contracts could operate as a form of RegTech through which compliance with legal and other regulatory requirements can be hardwired to execute automatically.…”

Section: Organizational Commitmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Academic literature focusing on blockchain's potential to solve health care problems has proliferated [1][2][3][4][5][6][7]. Although scholars have identified many possible applications of blockchain in health care [8], blockchain's perceived value ultimately rests on its potential to create a highly secure, tamper-proof, auditable electronic ledger that can enable responsive, fine-grained, and privacy-respecting access to and sharing of health care data. Accordingly, blockchain is often portrayed as a technological solution that can overcome existing barriers to health information exchange [8], one of the most stubborn challenges that continues to plague contemporary health care [9].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although scholars have identified many possible applications of blockchain in health care [8], blockchain's perceived value ultimately rests on its potential to create a highly secure, tamper-proof, auditable electronic ledger that can enable responsive, fine-grained, and privacy-respecting access to and sharing of health care data. Accordingly, blockchain is often portrayed as a technological solution that can overcome existing barriers to health information exchange [8], one of the most stubborn challenges that continues to plague contemporary health care [9]. Blockchain advocates claim that these technologies will generate higher quality, more trustworthy, and readily accessible data, which can drive improvements across health care [10].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Health Care Sector’s Experience of Blockchain: A Cross-disciplinary Investigation of Its Real Transformative Potential

Yeung¹

2021

J Med Internet Res

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Background Academic literature highlights blockchain’s potential to transform health care, particularly by seamlessly and securely integrating existing data silos while enabling patients to exercise automated, fine-grained control over access to their electronic health records. However, no serious scholarly attempt has been made to assess how these technologies have in fact been applied to real-world health care contexts. Objective The primary aim of this paper is to assess whether blockchain’s theoretical potential to deliver transformative benefits to health care is likely to become a reality by undertaking a critical investigation of the health care sector’s actual experience of blockchain technologies to date. Methods This mixed methods study entailed a series of iterative, in-depth, theoretically oriented, desk-based investigations and 2 focus group investigations. It builds on the findings of a companion research study documenting real-world engagement with blockchain technologies in health care. Data were sourced from academic and gray literature from multiple disciplinary perspectives concerned with the configuration, design, and functionality of blockchain technologies. The analysis proceeded in 3 stages. First, it undertook a qualitative investigation of observed patterns of blockchain for health care engagement to identify the application domains, data-sharing problems, and the challenges encountered to date. Second, it critically compared these experiences with claims about blockchain’s potential benefits in health care. Third, it developed a theoretical account of challenges that arise in implementing blockchain in health care contexts, thus providing a firmer foundation for appraising its future prospects in health care. Results Health care organizations have actively experimented with blockchain technologies since 2016 and have demonstrated proof of concept for several applications (use cases) primarily concerned with administrative data and to facilitate medical research by enabling algorithmic models to be trained on multiple disparately located sets of patient data in a secure, privacy-preserving manner. However, blockchain technology is yet to be implemented at scale in health care, remaining largely in its infancy. These early experiences have demonstrated blockchain’s potential to generate meaningful value to health care by facilitating data sharing between organizations in circumstances where computational trust can overcome a lack of social trust that might otherwise prevent valuable cooperation. Although there are genuine prospects of using blockchain to bring about positive transformations in health care, the successful development of blockchain for health care applications faces a number of very significant, multidimensional, and highly complex challenges. Early experience suggests that blockchain is unlikely to rapidly and radically revolutionize health care. Conclusions The successful development of blockchain for health care applications faces numerous significant, multidimensional, and complex challenges that will not be easily overcome, suggesting that blockchain technologies are unlikely to revolutionize health care in the near future.

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“…In the European Union, individual countries may be willing to use blockchain technology for public plans, but it is not clear how blockchain projects meet the EU General Data Protection Regulation privacy standards [1][2][3][4]96,97,104]. The general standard of blockchain will accelerate the industry to reach an agreement on blockchain and contribute to the formation of a large-scale ecosystem of social blockchain [101][102][103][105][106][107]. The second is efficiency issues.…”

Section: Principal Findingsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Applications of Blockchain in the Medical Field: Narrative Review (Preprint)

Xie¹,

Zhang²,

Wang³

et al. 2021

Preprint

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BACKGROUND As a distributed technology, blockchain has attracted increasing attention from stakeholders in the medical industry. Although previous studies have analyzed blockchain applications from the perspectives of technology, business, or patient care, few studies have focused on actual use-case scenarios of blockchain in health care. In particular, the outbreak of COVID-19 has led to some new ideas for the application of blockchain in medical practice. OBJECTIVE This paper aims to provide a systematic review of the current and projected uses of blockchain technology in health care, as well as directions for future research. In addition to the framework structure of blockchain and application scenarios, its integration with other emerging technologies in health care is discussed. METHODS We searched databases such as PubMed, EMBASE, Scopus, IEEE, and Springer using a combination of terms related to blockchain and health care. Potentially relevant papers were then compared to determine their relevance and reviewed independently for inclusion. Through a literature review, we summarize the key medical scenarios using blockchain technology. RESULTS We found a total of 1647 relevant studies, 60 of which were unique studies that were included in this review. These studies report a variety of uses for blockchain and their emphasis differs. According to the different technical characteristics and application scenarios of blockchain, we summarize some medical scenarios closely related to blockchain from the perspective of technical classification. Moreover, potential challenges are mentioned, including the confidentiality of privacy, the efficiency of the system, security issues, and regulatory policy. CONCLUSIONS Blockchain technology can improve health care services in a decentralized, tamper-proof, transparent, and secure manner. With the development of this technology and its integration with other emerging technologies, blockchain has the potential to offer long-term benefits. Not only can it be a mechanism to secure electronic health records, but blockchain also provides a powerful tool that can empower users to control their own health data, enabling a foolproof health data history and establishing medical responsibility.

show abstract

Adoption of Blockchain in Health Care

Cited by 49 publications

References 6 publications

Applications of Blockchain in the Medical Field: Narrative Review

Applications of Blockchain in the Medical Field: Narrative Review

The Health Care Sector’s Experience of Blockchain: A Cross-disciplinary Investigation of Its Real Transformative Potential

Applications of Blockchain in the Medical Field: Narrative Review (Preprint)

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