The Future of Blockchain Technology in Healthcare

The worldwide blockchain technology in healthcare was $531.19 million in 2021. But it's anticipated to hit $7308.32 million by 2028. It means the market value will increase at a CAGR of 76.30% from 2021 to 2028.

A blockchain is a shared database among the computer network's nodes. As far as the significance of blockchain technology in healthcare is concerned, it helps store and share patient data among drug firms, hospitals, and labs.

This helps increase the safety, efficiency, and openness of the medical data exchange within the healthcare system. So, the future of blockchain in healthcare is bright!

By boosting performance, blockchain enhances the safety of electronic medical records. Moreover, it provides a disintermediation system, a brand-new model for health data exchanges.

Are you considering blockchain's future possibilities and current use cases in healthcare? There are several ways blockchain technology can generate positive results in healthcare.

What is the Role of Blockchain Technology in Healthcare?

Blockchain technology in healthcare can exonerate several issues faced by healthcare professionals lately. These problems concern medical information, clinical trials, drug integrity, medical research, and the supply chain.

Blockchain technology has the potential to significantly impact the healthcare industry due to its unparalleled data efficiency capabilities. It also ensures data access interconnection, flexibility, security, and transparency.

Ways Blockchain Technology is Changing the Healthcare Industry

The healthcare sector can benefit from blockchain technology in several ways. It includes data evaluation, security, and more. These are the benefits of blockchain technology in healthcare:

Enhanced clinical trials

The market size of worldwide clinical trials was $38.7 billion in 2021. But by 2026, it's expected to increase to $52 billion. Hence, it means the growth will happen at a CAGR of 6.1%. The clinical trial procedure is complex due to the involvement of various stakeholders. It leads to postponements and ineffectiveness.

But blockchain technology in healthcare can help fix these issues by offering a stable way to manage clinical trial data. You can record every step of the clinical trial process on this blockchain. It makes data tracking and error identification hassle-free.

Maximized data security

Blockchain is a specialized database that ensures transparency and security of healthcare data. It offers solutions to various challenges, such as interoperability issues and data breaches. In addition, it provides an audit trail of different transactions, which can significantly reduce fraud in the healthcare industry.

Besides these benefits, there are several challenges for blockchain in healthcare too:

Insufficient technical knowledge

While Blockchain technology offers significant benefits in healthcare, it also poses several challenges, one of which is insufficient technical knowledge among users. Many individuals lack the necessary resources, such as expensive software and hardware, and may need to improve their understanding of the latest technologies. For instance, older people may not be accustomed to using personal computers and may require training.

Decentralization and Interoperability Challenges in Healthcare Blockchain

Another challenge is the decentralized nature of blockchains, where data is stored on a distributed network rather than in a single location. This means that different healthcare providers or organizations may create multiple blockchains, each with its standards or protocols for storing and sharing medical records.

As a result, accessing previous medical records across different blockchain networks can be difficult. To overcome this challenge, standard protocols for data sharing and interoperability between different blockchain networks in the healthcare industry need to be established. This will ensure seamless access to medical records across various providers and locations.

Blockchain Use Cases in Healthcare

Two optimistic blockchain use cases in healthcare are the following:

Patient data management

Patient data management is one of the main areas where blockchain technology can bring benefits to healthcare. Ensuring the privacy and security of patient data is a top priority, as is sharing patient information among the medical community. By using blockchain-based systems for data management, a framework for safe data exchange can be established.

One of the key benefits of adopting blockchain technology in healthcare is that it allows individual patients to have complete control over who accesses their medical records. Through a smart contract, the patient can specify guidelines for how and when data on the blockchain can be retrieved. For example, they can authorize one or more third parties to give healthcare practitioners access to their data when needed.

Drug traceability

With the increasing prevalence of spurious drugs in the healthcare system, blockchain technology has emerged as a potential solution. As one of the current use cases of blockchain in healthcare, it can help ensure drug traceability and prevent the distribution of counterfeit drugs. Spurious drugs can have severe adverse effects on patients as they are not manufactured according to genuine product standards, and variations in dosage and ingredients can lead to life-threatening health issues.

WHO estimates that 10.5% of medicines globally are of poor quality. Moreover, WHO is concerned that 1 in 10 medical products selling in low to medium-income countries is spurious. By leveraging blockchain technology for drug traceability, the healthcare industry can ensure that patients receive authentic and safe medications.

Top Organizations Using Blockchain in the Healthcare Industry

Avaneer Health

This Chicago-based company uses a public ledger to uphold secure healthcare data interchanges and better claims processing. Avaneer Health also helps keep provider directories updated and maintained.

Coral Health

Coral Health is a healthcare company based in New York that utilizes blockchain technology to enhance caregiving, simplify administrative processes, and improve health outcomes. By integrating patient data onto the blockchain, Coral Health facilitates faster communication and collaboration among healthcare professionals, including scientists, doctors, and lab technicians.

Patientory

Patientory offers a blockchain-enabled population health data management and analytics platform that democratizes individual ownership of health data and incentivizes improved outcomes. Its secure platform gathers and analyzes healthcare data, including daily lifestyle factors, providing patients with ownership and insights while offering enterprises comprehensive healthcare data intelligence.

The Future of Blockchain in Healthcare

The future of blockchain in healthcare is intense! In 2032, the projected value of blockchain technology will be approximately $285.64 billion. The future possibilities of blockchain in healthcare are highly favorable regarding the following:

Managing medical data
Maximizing interoperability
Tracking prescriptions and drugs
Automating treatments
Evaluating medical devices and supply chains
Preventing violations

Understanding blockchain-based healthcare solutions can be challenging, but it is worth familiarizing oneself with this technology given its promising future.

While it may not bring about drastic changes in the immediate future, the integration of technology in healthcare is steadily moving towards a period of transformation. The industry is on the brink of a technological renaissance that has the potential to revolutionize the way we approach healthcare.

The benefits of implementing blockchain technology in healthcare are immense, as it has the potential to streamline processes, enable secure and reliable interactions, and produce unalterable data. The healthcare industry stands to gain significantly from adopting blockchain technology, and many prominent players in the field have already taken steps to integrate it into their operations or plan to do so shortly. With its promising future, it is imperative to gain an understanding of blockchain-based healthcare solutions to stay ahead of the curve in this rapidly evolving field.

Read our previous blog, Blockchain as a Service: The Future of Healthcare Is Here.