OUR CYBER-HEALTH: Virtual Medicine, A Cyberized View

Chapter 4: BCB Cyber Take (11.24.20)

Telemedicine on Blockchain

With every system, there are both benefits and pitfalls as we’ve seen, one of the most remarkable opportunities that come with telehealth and telemedicine however is the adoption of blockchain technologies. As we love to cyberize topics with a graphical exploration for ease and speed, we offer the following infographic to jump into the topic.

Telemedicine & telehealth offer a tremendous opportunity to revolutionize the medical industry as a whole as we have seen in the last few weeks. Bridging both benefit and pitfall, when communications-based healthcare is blended with blockchain, however, the combination can offer the technology necessary to add Transparency, Security & Integrity, Trust, Privacy, & Democratization, each element sorely lacking in medicine today! These five elements underpin all the benefits and pitfalls we have explored and only within the blockchain can they be ultimately be engaged.

Transparency

We begin with transparency for one of the largest issues in medicine today is transparency. Pricing, practice, and protocol all stand behind a veil that the patient falls victim to. From quality/type of care to the exchange of information, patients are exposed to a demanded trust and offered little exposure and therefore understanding of the medical practices they experience. Most notably, the why’s and to whom’s regarding the exchange of data within medical practice would ultimately be shared with the patient opening the whole structure. With blockchain, a cleaner and more clear picture of the exchanges could be made possible and the understanding and therefore capacity of the patient to make better decisions as individuals would be enhanced.

Security & Integrity

Hand in hand with Transparency, Security & Integrity (aka cybersecurity) could enhance the medical profession as practiced through a combination of telehealth and telemedicine with blockchain. As electronic medical records systems became based on the digital ledger and the middle persons responsible for handling these systems are removed, more accurate, and protected by the steadfastness of the blockchain.

Trust

As Transparency, Integrity, & Security were all improved the opportunity for trust in the system could be maximized. Since the digital ledger is capable of keeping a more exact record than typical human systems, the regulations needed to maintain trust in the system could be relaxed and the companies/institutions practicing telehealth and telemedicine would have an easier time navigating governmental involvement and could focus on patient care. Furthermore, fraud by individuals and insurance fraud would also be kept to a minimum thereby decreasing cost and potentially making medicine more accessible.

Privacy

As personal information could be placed under the protection of a private key after being encoded and stored on the blockchain, access would become very limited. Only proper individuals would then have access. Even in situations where hackers attempt to gain access to the lax IT environments found in many hospitals, despite many attempts to correct the situation, increased security and therefore privacy could be achieved.

Democratization

As costs are reduced, and access and privacy guarantees to the patient are increased, so is the usability by the masses. As telemedicine and telehealth stretch geographical boundaries, so too would the inclusion of blockchain onto these advances in medicine stretch the capacity of the field to be engaged by far more people in a far more efficient and safe manner.

The infographic and cyberized summary above were inspired by the following three sites used in researching the question: what opportunities lie in taking telemedicine to the next level with disruptive technology like blockchain?

Healthcare Weekly Ultimate Guide to Telemedicine

Healthcare IT News

Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society, Inc. (HIMSS)

While we are not sponsored by any of the above, we do find them fascinating and offer them here as fuel for our own independent explorations. For more Cyber-Fuel on Health, please check out our dedicated section on the subject.