Blockchain Could Save Healthcare Billions Every Year

The following is a guest article by Michael Kim, Senior Vice President/CIO at MultiPlan. In recent years, blockchain has been one of the most-hyped technologies: A public ledger that lives on a network of computers, each validating any changes in real-time. Unlike traditional distributed databases with centralized management, blockchain offers a shared database, providing security, transparency, traceability, and speed. While the shared ledger idea can be traced back to the 80s, blockchain technology emerged in 2008 as the foundation for decentralized currency, namely Bitcoin.    While it is true the cryptocurrency markets have crashed, that does not mean it is wise to dismiss the underlying technology. There are companies actively using blockchain to improve data-sharing and storage, and it has shown great promise in solving complex challenges in many industries, most notably healthcare. In fact, this living ledger could bring significant efficiency and savings to healthcare and is expected to save more than $2 billion each year by revolutionizing record keeping, according to a large pilot study conducted by the Synaptic Health Alliance. Going Beyond Crypto The Synaptic Health Alliance, a coalition founded by Humana, MultiPlan, Quest Diagnostics, and United Health Group – some of which are competitors – studies the potential of blockchain technology to ease inefficient administrative burdens. Because provider information is publicly available, there’s no competitiv...
Source: EMR and HIPAA - Category: Information Technology Authors: Tags: Health IT Company Healthcare IT Interoperability IT Infrastructure and Dev Ops Revenue Cycle Management Blockchain Blockchain Technology Data Sharing Database Errors Health IT Interoperability Humana Improve Patient Outcomes Improv Source Type: blogs