BLOCKCHAIN: AN ASSURED TECHNOLOGY FOR PROTECTING HEALTHCARE IN POST COVID-19 ERA
Name:
Course:
Instructor:
Due date:
Introduction
This paper elaborates the effect of cryptocurrency in conjunction with the Blockchain technology in non-monetary systems. Furthermore, this paper exhibits the challenges encountered by the Blockchain technology in safeguarding highly classified information in the health care system. The lack of transparency of transactions and questionable security of data is solved by the promising impact of the Blockchain technology on the internet of things. The Blockchain technology provides a decentralized trust of the information by using a changeable key to evidence user’s uniqueness which gives the required privacy. It also ensures distributed storage by employing the proof of work mathematical challenge. Blockchain safeguards sensitive data and unending trust issues in health care management.
Literature review
The security of data in the health care system is continually a major problem in the world. Efforts to monitor the progress of the proposed solutions that have turned out futile. Inadequate protection of the sensitive information stored in the health care data systems has forced data specialists to adopt ancient practices. The adoption of the Blockchain technology which uses the aspects of cryptography as shown by Mahdi. H (2017), a peer to peer model and a distributed ledger has proven to be a secure way to uphold the privacy of medical data. N.Szabo (1994) talks of permissioned Blockchains which consist of only authorized personnel may be effective for the internet of things applications. Implementation of these opportunities bring up fast and dependable protocols. This could include the delivery of services in the health sector.
Methodology
Data collection
To obtain sufficient data on the Blockchain, the internet and books (documented data) that covered this area of interest were brought together. The books that showed to have an in-depth knowledge of the Blockchain and its impact if used in the healthcare industry were chosen. The internet was used to uncover articles that had covered the topic in question. This material was then analyzed thoroughly and short notes made on the important issues.
Data sources
Knowledge on the Blockchain, its background, uses, features and challenges were obtained from internet websites including the official Blockchain website as well as books that had covered the subject matter. A thorough look into the Blockchain websites gave a vast insight into the features of Blockchain, its uses and also showed how it could be applied within the healthcare industry post-COVID-19.
The books by N.Szabo (1994) and Mahdi. H (2017) gives a good account of how Blockchain would help improve the healthcare industry. The sources also explain the features of Blockchain.
Research Methodology
Sections within the books that mentioned the relevance of Blockchain in the healthcare industry were read. The books were then analyzed to review their usage in the healthcare industry after the COVID-19 pandemic. It was noted that the key strengths of Blockchain were trust and the ability to trace transactions. The main reasons for the use of documented sources were because Blockchain was still new; hence data on the entity was readily available and could be obtained easily. Furthermore, its wide outreach compounded by the effects of COVID-19 could not allow a hands-on approach involving personal contact. The books outlined the relevancies of Blockchain to the health industry and the various ways it would help improve it.
Outcomes
The research showed that the winning points of Blockchain were its provision of trust without the need of having intermediaries as well as allowing traceability. The research showed that Blockchain would have various relevancies in the healthcare industry. For example, its public publishing of records to be available for perusal by parties involved would prove helpful to the health industry ensuring patients also have control over their medical records. Blockchain also has a feature which ensures that even after deletion or modification of any data, a mark is left. This would be crucial in the health industry as records which are tampered with would be easily identifiable. The research also showed that Blockchain allowed secure storage which would be vital for the finance sector within health facilities. Furthermore, it allowed data sharing, which would help doctors have a well-versed knowledge of their patients’ medical history. The research also showed that patients could have a real hand in their medical data by allowing them control over it. The research also found out that there were developments of various technologies within hospitals in an attempt to make things better. An example of this is MEDREC which claims to be able to find and prevent violations of the privacy of data. The research concluded that for Blockchain to be effective in the healthcare industry, it had to bridge the existing gap between the parties involved in the health industry. Blockchain would also have to find a way of incorporating scalability within its features. This would make the app more relevant to the healthcare industry.
Proposition
Blockchain obviously has various applications within the health industry. However, Blockchain has to go further than being able to guarantee trust. It should be able to help facilitate better exchange of data between doctors and patients. It should also be able to fix its scalability issues which would go well with its decentralization of data and consistency.
Limitations
One of the major significant limitations was the fact that the use of Blockchain was found to be time-consuming, especially when there was huge traffic. Also, normal people would find it difficult to keep a copy whenever there were too many people. This would undermine its use in the healthcare industry due to the many people involved. Furthermore, were it to be implemented, there would be a need to retrain personnel in the use of Blockchain. The increased number of fraudsters also serves as a limitation to the use of Blockchain.
Missing points
The author has identified that despite Block chain’s huge visible potential, most of its features have not been put up but are only shown in writing. Blockchain, therefore, has to find ways to put most of their features to test to be applicable in the healthcare industry.
An all-round entity that would serve the patients as well as maintain the values of privacy and professionalism is also missing. Blockchain, therefore, needs to up their game and ensure that the entity works to preserve customer control over personal data while also preventing the misuse of this data.
In conclusion, Blockchain is a valuable technology that, without any doubt, will apply to the health industry in the coming years. However, they need to put in more work towards serving all the customer needs and in a faster and efficient way.
References
Don Tapscott and Alex Tapscott (2016). Blockchain Revolution: How the Technology Behind Bitcoin Is Changing Money, Business, and the World, 1st ed. New York, USA: Penguin Publishing Group.
Dr Fabian Wahl Peter Behner, Dr Marie-Lyn Hecht. (2018) Fighting counterfeit pharmaceuticals,
https://www.strategyand.pwc.com/reports/counterfeit-pharmaceuticals
Elizabeth A Bell, Lucila Ohno-Machado, and M Adela Grando (2014). Sharing my health data: a survey of data sharing preferences of healthy individuals. In AMIA Annual Symposium Proceedings, volume 2014, page 1699. American Medical Informatics Association.
Maaruf Ali and Mahdi H Miraz (2013). “Cloud Computing Applications,” in Proceedings of the
International Conference on Cloud Computing and eGovernance – ICCCEG 2013, Internet City, Dubai, United Arab Emirates pp. 1-8, Available:
http://www.edlib.asdf.res.in/2013/iccceg/paper001.pdf
Mahdi H. Miraz, “Blockchain: Technology Fundamentals of the Trust Machine,” Machine Lawyering, Chinese University of Hong Kong. Available:
http://dx.doi.org//10.13140/RG.2.2.22541.64480/2
Nir Kshetri, “Can Blockchain Strengthen the Internet of Things?” IT Professional, vol. 19, no. 4, pp. 68 – 72, May 2017, Available:
http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8012302/
OECD. Health spending. (2018)
https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1787/8643de7e-en.
https://www.oecdilibrary.org/content/data/8643de7e-en.
Tsung-Ting Kuo, Hyeon-Eui Kim, and Lucila Ohno-Machado(2017). Blockchain distributed ledger technologies for biomedical and health care applications. Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, 24(6):1211–1220: