Many experts agree: The blockchain can make a significant contribution to a digitized healthcare system. The benefits of distributed ledger technology are essentially concentrated in three areas: protection against counterfeiting, tracking and research.
She sees great potential IKK Classic in a blog post, primarily for the areas of counterfeit protection and in the tracking of supply chains. In the area of organ donation, the blockchain can make waiting lists more secure, it is said. In the past, there have always been counterfeits here. The immutability of the blockchain means that manipulation can be prevented in the future.
The second major advantage of DLT lies in the tracking of production and supply chains. This would allow the quality of medicinal products to be better controlled. For example, if the cold chain for a corona vaccine were not maintained, the dose would not be vaccinated.
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Blockchain in Healthcare: Research
And the blockchain can also be used in research. For example, the results of studies could be exchanged via a common data infrastructure.
As of today, however, the use of the technology is still a long way off. The health insurance company BTC-ECHO reports that there are no pilot projects at the IKK Classic yet. The National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Funds answered a similar question. The blockchain is “a highly interesting approach, but for us at the moment it is still a topic for the future”.
In order to advance the topic further, all the actors involved, the service providers, the health insurers and, ultimately, politicians would have to work on a common infrastructure solution.
In the coalition agreement, the traffic light government promised to accelerate the introduction of the electronic patient record (ePA). The aim is also to set up a “decentralized research data infrastructure”. However, this is not yet a commitment to the blockchain.
Disclaimer
This article first appeared in the February issue of BTC-ECHO Magazine. It has been edited for re-publication.
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