It seems like decades have passed while the world’s healthcare system has been degrading. For healthcare professionals, practitioners, and patients, the situation of the global healthcare system has never been more difficult due to bed shortages, lengthy waiting lists, rising expenses, and worldwide pandemics.
The global healthcare business is on the verge of collapse, according to Deloitte’s 2022 Global Health Care Forecast. The COVID-19 pandemic has worn out medical personnel, overburdened institutions, adversely affected and further marginalized sizable segments of the population, and reduced demand for and access to non-COVID-19-related medical care.
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What Is a Blockchain?
A blockchain is a shared distributed database or ledger across computer network nodes. For storing data, a blockchain serves as a digital database. Blockchain technology is most well-known for keeping a secure and decentralized record of transactions in cryptocurrency systems like Bitcoin or Tether USDT.
A blockchain’s originality is that it fosters confidence without the requirement for a reliable third party by ensuring the security and accuracy of a data record.
In a blockchain, data is organized in a very different way than it is typically. Blocks, which are the basic building blocks of a blockchain, are used to collect data. The data chain known as the blockchain is created as blocks are filled, sealed, and connected to the blocks that came before them. Blocks have fixed amounts of storage.
Each piece of information that comes after the block that was just added is used to generate a new block, which is then added to the chain.
A blockchain, as its name suggests, separates its data into pieces (blocks) that are connected, as opposed to a database, which typically arranges its data into tables. Decentralized, this data structure purposefully results in an irreversible chronology of data.
A finished block is sealed forever and added to the timeline. Each block that is added to the chain receives a precise timestamp.
Improving Communication and Efficiency
Blockchain technology is notably underused in global healthcare. It can offer an efficient, transparent, safe, and effective method of data and information communication for all stakeholders involved in the healthcare industry. Through the use of smart contracts and tokenization, it offers the opportunity to reduce or eliminate the pre-authorization procedure in the healthcare sector.
Blockchain-based solutions for health documentation offer strong encryption techniques that preserve the integrity of users’ personal information while connecting with other parties.
Tokenization, smart contracts, and the encryption techniques employed in blockchain network transactions will significantly eliminate the need for pre-authorization, enabling patients to obtain the required and informed care more rapidly.
The healthcare provider may now quickly obtain the necessary information, as opposed to in the past depending on the patient or documents that were physically delivered or emailed from numerous sources, such as nearby doctors, labs, etc.
In addition to promoting more effective contact and communication between insurance companies and healthcare providers, tokenization can help improve communication between the patient and the healthcare professional.
Putting the Patient First
The implementation of a decentralized platform will benefit the patient in several ways in the global healthcare system. One advantage is that patients will be able to control their medical records independently of the healthcare provider.
Also, patients will be liberated from limitations and be able to share their medical records with any clinician, anywhere in the globe, thanks to decentralization, improving access to healthcare for all.
Patients will be able to offer and receive information quickly and effectively when they interact with various foreign healthcare professionals and providers throughout their healthcare journey thanks to the tokenization of personal information.
Important data, such as medical history, insurance information, and personal information, will be given through a platform to guarantee that it is quickly accessible and kept for every usage.
By granting them access to their medical records, patients may ensure that the information kept about them is precise and proper. Only 18% of the text in progress notes would be manually input by healthcare providers, leaving 46% to be copied and 36% to be imported, according to studies on the accuracy of medical records. As a result, there is a significant chance of mistakes and outdated information.
Supporting Outpatient Services
The general practitioner (GP), a primary care facility, and specialists like nurse practitioners, dentists and physiotherapists are just a few of the healthcare providers who treat patients outside of hospitals.
There is a lot to track and manage when creating a system that ensures everyone is aware of visits, prescriptions, and medication, especially when providers are a part of numerous worldwide healthcare networks.
Any doctor can update prescription data in real-time using blockchain-based medical records, enhancing information flow and reducing the likelihood of errors and drug interactions.
Patients can also submit information on their over-the-counter pharmaceuticals or homeopathic remedies so that healthcare professionals and pharmacists have all the information they need to provide the right care and advice.
This suggests to the user that there is a central, single-access data repository that is safely stored and maintained over a decentralized blockchain.
The Future of Global Healthcare
Blockchain technology can reduce costs, accelerate resource investments, and support the expansion of the global healthcare industry.
It is improbable to think that the disorganized, incredibly bureaucratic, and inefficient healthcare system we currently have can endure with so much on the line. It’s time to use the system-based innovations and technology at our disposal, patients, professionals, and executives included.