Blockchain.
The technology is gathering steam in various industries, including healthcare and now even the government is jumping on the blockchain bandwagon.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) is co-hosting a two-day “Blockchain in Heathcare Code-A-Thon” with the Chamber of Digital Commerce, which kicks off March 14.
It marks the first time a U.S. government entity has hosted a blockchain-centric coding event.
The competition is designed to demonstrate how blockchain, digital assets, and distributed ledger technologies can be used to bridge data silos, increase IT as well as organizational efficiencies, and secure data while placing the consumer at the center of the healthcare ecosystem.
“The participation of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services speaks volumes about the serious, long-term potential applications of blockchain technology to the healthcare sector,” said Perianne Boring, founder and president of the Chamber of Digital Commerce, which co-hosts the DC Blockchain Summit, and where the Code-A-Thon will take place.
Originally developed for the digital currency Bitcoin, blockchain creates an incorruptible digital “ledger” of transactions that can be time-stamped and signed using a private key to prevent tampering. Each participant in the network has a copy of the existing blockchain, so it has no single point of failure from which records or digital assets can be tampered with.
Because blockchain establishes a shared truth through multiple replicas, it’s considered all but impervious to fraud. If someone wants to add to a blockchain, participants run algorithms to evaluate and verify the proposed transaction. If the identifying information matches the blockchain’s history, the new transaction is approved and a new block is added to the chain.
Although blockchain is still a nascent technology in the healthcare space, expect to hear more about it this year.
“I think blockchain will affect every industry that’s out there, similar to how the internet has transformed our lives,” Boring said. “The internet is a medium where we share information, but it’s not a good medium for sharing anything of value. The data breaches we see on a daily basis certainly highlight the importance and need of a better way to transfer the ownership of digital assets. Blockchain is the technology of value.”
Other industries examining this technology include insurance, finance, and music.
The ONC began investigating its potential applications for healthcare in 2015, and last year issued a call for white papers that investigated the relationship between blockchain technology and its use in health IT and health-related research.
At the time, ONC Lead IT Architect Debbie Bucci found just three Google search results that included “blockchain” and “healthcare” in the same breath, so she was astounded when the ONC received a whopping 77 research submissions, many from companies and institutions that hadn’t previously engaged with ONC.
The submissions included ideas for improving claims processing and payment, detecting fraud and abuse, creating DNA wallets, and storing and sharing patient data. HHS selected 15 winning submissions and showcased them at a workshop and awards ceremony in September 2016.
Next steps identified at the workshop included taking a deeper dive into the blockchain technology. That’s where the Code-A-Thon comes in.
Code-a-Thon contestants will use health-specific standards and open-source distributed ledger technology to address one of the following areas:
- Identity management and APIs: How to use blockchain to support API identity management requirements for provider-to-provider and patient-mediated exchange.
- Metadata tagging and policy expression: Using blockchain for security metadata and tagging to manage access, provide auditing and provenance information.
- Data Aggregation and Linkage: Use of blockchain technology to securely aggregate, link and share patient data to a given destination.
While contestants will focus on the above, there are other potential healthcare applications:
- Anti-counterfeit drugs: Drug packages could include a unique verification tag that can be cross-referenced with the blockchain to ensure the legitimacy of the pharmaceutical product.
- Patient identity: A large network of verified and secured patient data, such as genomic data and data from the EHR, claims, pharmacies, wearable technologies, implants and the Internet of Things, could be accessed and shared among healthcare entities that join a blockchain to access a large network of verified and secured data.
- Identity Management and APIs: Support the identity management requirements for APIs for both provider-to-provider and patient-mediated exchange.
- Metadata Tagging and Policy Expression: Security metadata and tagging to manage access, provide auditing and provenance information.
- Data Aggregation and Linkage: Securely aggregate, link and share patient data to the destination of their choice.
While we are still in the early stages of debating how the technology will be applied, Boring said, Blockchain is popping up in healthcare conferences around the country. Take HIMSS that kicked off Monday in Orlando, Florida.
For the first time, the national health IT conference will feature an all-day workshop on blockchain technology during the five-day event.
The Code-A-Thon “is just a baby step,” Bucci of ONC said, adding that next steps may include pilot projects and demonstrations.
“We are leaning in to see how things evolve over time,” she said.
Photo: KingWu, Getty Images
