Abstract
In today’s scenario, it is essential for the healthcare sector to focus on balancing patient care records with information relevant to completeness, accessibility, and privacy concerns. Advancements in information technology and health infrastructure exponentially bolster transformative changes in the healthcare industry. Incorporation of blockchain along with distributed ledger technology (DLT) owes the potentiality to cater to the interoperability restraints in health IT systems and enables medical researchers, healthcare entities, and healthcare providers to share electronic health data in a secured and well-mannered system. In addition to these, such technologies also propose and offer latest models for health statistics exchange by making the records more secure and efficient. However, successful implementation of blockchain technology and DLT necessitates efficient infrastructure, connectivity, and other factors. Hence, there poses to be several challenges restraining the mainstream usage of blockchain technology in the healthcare sector. The article illustrates different generations of blockchain, issues in healthcare data, and network structures as well as the solutions offered by the sector to cater to such problems. In addition to these, the article also emphasizes on the different application areas of blockchain and DLT in healthcare infrastructure. This article further discusses latest trends and factors driving the need for the incorporation of blockchain and distributed ledger technology in the healthcare sector and the future scenario for the same.
Highlights
Blockchain was initially applied as a fundamental technology for the cryptocurrency “Bitcoin”, which has budding usage beyond the realms of cryptocurrencies and digital currencies
This study discusses about the different application areas of blockchain technology in the healthcare sector
Application of blockchain is expected to go above the range in the field of economics, with the fact that its potentiality largely depends upon its acceptability in the healthcare system
Summary
Blockchain was initially applied as a fundamental technology for the cryptocurrency “Bitcoin”, which has budding usage beyond the realms of cryptocurrencies and digital currencies. Blockchain is a shared distributed ledger technology (DLT) which minimizes the need for an intermediary to manage transaction and minimize the cost and chances of malpractices in the system (Yadav, 2019). One of the fields wherein blockchain is gaining exponential traction is the Figure 1 healthcare industry This concept owes the potentiality to completely transform the healthcare segment by focusing on the needs of the patients and increasing the interoperability, privacy, and security of the healthcare-related information. Adoption of this technology in the healthcare sector enhances the healthcare practices, for instance, the quality of patient care and healthcare service delivery (Prokofieva and Miah, 2019). The study includes a brief description of the top five use-cases illustrating the solutions and competitive strategies adopted by the existing players and new entrants catering to different issues in the healthcare space
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