A little-understood technology — blockchain — is becoming the new frontier in several industries. Recent research from CB Insights found the technology is impacting sectors from real estate to ride sharing to law enforcement.
Healthcare is no exception.
Blockchain, the distributed ledger tech behind digital currencies like Bitcoin, has already emerged as a means to improve cybersecurity and interoperability. But amidst all the macro-level talk, three blockchain-centric companies are applying the technology to much-needed areas.
YouBase is looking at the blockchain horizon through a consumer-specific lens. The Denver, Colorado-based company was founded by Leonard Kish, Josh Robinson and cardiologist and digital evangelist Dr. Eric Topol with the goal of giving patients power over their health data.
“YouBase really started with the idea that people don’t control enough of the data about themselves,” Kish, who also serves as CEO, said in a recent phone interview. “The goal is that ultimately, individuals can share data across applications how they want to.”
In an article published in Nature Biotechnology in 2015, Kish and Topol wrote about that very objective. Calling patients “unpatients,” they advocated for individuals’ rights to own their medical data.
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
“People connecting over information to create value and share assets has been the story of our economy for the past 20 years,” they concluded. “So, too, will it be with sharing and leveraging medical data in the next 20 years.”
The next year, YouBase was born.
Through the startup’s model, individuals each have their own “wallet,” which contains their encrypted health data. These users alone are the ones who can control their information. They can grant health systems or providers access to that data while still keeping their identity private.
Clinical researchers can use YouBase to find anonymous data that fits the profile of the type of patients they’re recruiting. Then, they can directly ask patients to participate.
In addition to powering its system, blockchain technology also assists the company in another way: It keeps users’ data safe and secure.
Though this application of blockchain could be considered as abating the interoperability conundrum, Kish stressed that YouBase isn’t a solution to the problem.
“We don’t solve interoperability, but allow it to be driven more by individuals and institutions,” he said.
While YouBase is capitalizing off the patient-centric benefits of blockchain, other organizations are leveraging the technology for management purposes.
Hashed Health is a healthcare innovation firm and consortium based in Nashville, Tennessee. Like other startups in the space, it strives to develop products built on the blockchain. But it goes about it a little differently.
Rather than deploying a product and expecting companies to utilize it, Hashed Health initially focuses on forming networks. Healthcare entities from across the board — nonprofits, for-profits, consulting companies and more — become a member of Hashed Health’s workgroups, each of which focuses on specific business problems like payments, supply chain, and IoT. These groups meet regularly to learn about blockchain and potential opportunities. Only then will a member jointly team up with Hashed Health to develop a product.
“We see this as being the required formula for success,” Hashed Health founder and CEO John Bass said in a phone interview. “If you really want to make it meaningful, you have to build a network.”
One of the company’s latest use cases zooms in on the concept of decentralized provider identity.
Any healthcare provider’s identity is made up of many disparate parts, including where they graduated from medical school, their current address and whether they’re licensed to practice in a certain state. All of this information has to be verified whenever a physician wants to practice medicine.
Hashed Health is working with the state of Illinois to touch on one area of this problem: physician licensure portability. Through the partnership, they will develop a blockchain-based product that makes it easier for organizations to share credential data related to multistate and interstate licensure.
Via blockchain technology, credentialing bodies can securely access and attest to a provider’s licensure information in a single record, thereby saving time.
“Illinois can attest to a valid license and share that information with states that have reciprocity,” Bass said.
This application is of particular importance as telemedicine enables physicians to practice across state lines.
Another startup is utilizing blockchain to aid providers in a different way.
SimplyVital Health has an eye on the winds shifting the ecosystem toward value-based care. During this transition, MACRA and bundled payments have become topics of increasing importance. As such, the focus is moving to care coordination — which is precisely where the company is hoping to lend a hand.
“All of these providers are having to work together because of value-based care, but they have to prove they are working together,” SimplyVital Health cofounder and CEO Kat Kuzmeskas said in a phone interview.
She and Lucas Hendren, who now serves as CTO, cofounded the Bloomfield, Connecticut-based company in 2016.
SimplyVital Health is powered by Health Nexus, its blockchain ecosystem. In an effort to improve the switch to value-based care, it effectively makes use of blockchain to connect providers regardless of their clinical affiliation. The startup’s ConnectingCare tool also harnesses blockchain to track clients’ financials, monitor analytics and maintain static records.
SimplyVital Health’s clients include various types of organizations, from a payer to a hospital, a skilled nursing facility to a large provider network. The strengths of blockchain make it an ideal technology to aid the company in meeting its goals around care coordination.
First, blockchain provides true immutability. In a value-based care world, immutability can be the key to proving providers are working together.
The technology also provides a level of trust where it doesn’t otherwise exist, she added. It keeps vulnerable information securely protected, which is crucial when working with such large amounts of data.
Despite the power of blockchain, some in the healthcare world remain uncertain of its actual applicability. That’s why SimplyVital Health wants to focus on the practical side of it.
“There’s a lot of opportunity, but there’s also a lot of hype,” Kuzmeskas noted. “A lot of people are equating it to the Internet. We’re resetting expectations. Part of what we’re trying to do is bring everyone back to the ground.”
Photo: a-image, Getty Images
