9. Blockchain in Healthcare

The healthcare sector is a $3 trillion industry, and about $1 trillion of it goes to waste annually. Care coordination is becoming more complex as chronic conditions in the aging population continue to rise. In many instances, the technology available to healthcare providers is not adequate to capture all aspects of the care being provided. The result is a rugged transfer of information between parties that ultimately reduces the quality of care being provided to patients. This is largely due to providers’ having legacy systems, lack of integration with non-vendor-specific technologies, paper-based medical records, and a lack of horizontal transfer between allied healthcare professions. Hospitals are investing a considerable amount of resources into duplicating work that can be completed by a sophisticated technology infrastructure and amplifying the inefficiency of using poorly designed systems. In this use case, we discuss the payer–provider–patient model in the context of the incentives and services each provides and how this model is likely to change in the near future. We then introduce how blockchain can integrate into tracking the workflow of a patient from the first visit to the final diagnosis and treatment plan. We introduce two new features that blockchain integration can enable: hot switching of components and medical data curation. Then, we present a use case of physician credentialing using the blockchain. Finally, we conclude by discussing waste management in healthcare and efforts by Capital One + Gem to increase the economic output.