How the Global Development Community will Shape the Future of Blockchain in Health Care
Nothing is quite as diverse and complex as the global health care system.
Indeed, we live in an era where health care differences between countries are significant. It’s not uncommon for individuals who struggle with a health condition to gather their medical records and travel to a foreign country in the hope of getting treatment. Differences in cost, expertise, or even tech accessibility shape a world in which impoverished countries can’t meet the needs of their population. But living in a wealthy state doesn’t prevent medical errors and complications. Patients who change addresses are the first to discover the challenges of relocating their health care records safely. More often than not, records can be lost or corrupted during a transfer. Should a patient move abroad, it is fair to say that their health records can be almost impossible to obtain as there is no global approach to health care data and storage. Therefore, it makes sense that going forward, the health care system needs to evolve to address the needs of a growing nomadic population. That’s precisely where the blockchain technology could revolutionize the way we deal with health care data at a global level.
#1. Why is blockchain technology so crucial to health care data?
Nobody says it better than Frank Ricotta, BurstIQ CEO:
“Blockchains are networks. These networks facilitate connections, and it is the connections that in turn, create new markets. In the case of healthcare, they also create communities. At BurstIQ, we are seeing a growing global community of developers and health innovators collaborating to solve problems in creative in a blockchain centric way. This community of crowd innovators are now being recognized by large health-focused companies, including hospital systems, bio tech, pharma, and big tech. We are being approached by their innovation teams, asking how they can tap into crowd innovators and unleash it to solve some of their big daunting problems.”
Due to the nature of blockchain technology, digital data can be distributed without being copied, which means that critical information such as health care records are unlikely to get encounter errors in the process. Additionally, the record of data is not only immutable, but it is also time-stamped, which provides an additional layer of security to the cryptographic chain. In a world where we need to share health care data between specialists, blockchain offers a secure option that prevents data loss, corruptions, and transformations.
#2. Boost research potential globally
With the help of a global development community that helps to bring the interest of international researchers together, blockchain technology can establish a pool of research data that is shareable between all health care researchers and scientists. As such, research becomes a global target where authorized users can contribute to sharing knowledge and results and boost the discovery process. While this requires an overarching structure to be established by a global community to define the authorization process, use of the networks, the data exchange process, and the security of the network, it would dramatically reshape health care research. The global team of researchers can not only contribute to the same health care project to eradicate diseases. Additionally, funding can be spread across all participant research centers, as well as supported by a shared crypto-funding capital.
#3. Everybody can finance health care development
Cryptocurrency is the most famous use of blockchain technology. Research centers and health care centers could rely on cryptocurrency crowdfunding to fund health research as well as support their most vulnerable patients. Indeed, blockchain makes it possible to develop fair access to health care for all, both in terms of knowledge and fundings. For this to happen, we need the global development community of developers, health care innovators and researchers to design a baseline structure that regulates fair global exchanges of funds. Indeed, health care financing is one of the most prejudiced processes that affect global populations.
#4. A consortium for health care dialogue
Currently, health care services exist in isolated clusters of networks across the world. These networks don’t interact with each other. More often than not, they don’t share the same structure, regulations, or architecture. If we are to introduce blockchain technology, the global health care needs to agree on a consortium for common foundations. That’s where it’s detrimental to the success of a comprehensive health care approach to find a reliable and knowledgeable development community that understands how to manage those challenges. Indeed, paving the way towards a single approach health care means reaching beyond governmental authorities and regulations to establish a rule for all. The global community needs to take responsibility for reshaping the architecture and IT protocols in the health care industry to create a global health care solution. There’s no denying that our approach to health care has improved through time. However, relying on blockchain to shape the health care of the future could eliminate global disparities and enhance our understanding of diseases and research.
Article Produced By
Ishan Garg
Ishan is a cryptocurrency trader and a journalist. He is the founder of Blockmanity. He trades cryptocurrencies and holds some but he prefers holding USDT.
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