The Possibility Of Blockchain Technology To Address The Biggest Challenges In Healthcare

At Zelis, one of the top healthcare payment companies, Kali Durgampudi serves as CTO.

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Healthcare https://womenvitamin007.blogspot.com/cyberattacks harmed 45 million people in 2021, up from 34 million in 2020, as hospital cybersecurity breaches reached an all-time high. Since 2018, there have been three times as many cyberattacks against healthcare businesses, a trend that has been seen throughout the whole healthcare ecosystem. Between 2020 and 2021, attacks against health plans climbed by 35%, while attacks on third-party vendors increased by 18%. In 2022, this pattern doesn't appear to be slowing down. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services issued a warning about a ransomware group that targets the healthcare environment in April of this year. These assaults may have a range of adverse effects, including the interruption of hospital operations, the redirection of non-emergency patients, a breach of patient confidentiality, the disclosure of patient data and https://womenvitamin007.blogspot.com/ information, and infrastructure damage.

What Is Blockchain?

Blockchain is a secure technology that tracks transactions. It essentially serves as a digital ledger that encrypts information, or “blocks” of data, which are chained together to create a single source of truth. Since the information is widely distributed and cannot be modified or copied, blockchain technology reduces security risks and could revolutionize industries such as finance and healthcare blockchain is a technology that has the ability to transform the healthcare sector and meet these security requirements.

Why Blockchain Has The Potential To Revolutionize Healthcare:

Speedier processes:

Blockchain offers a considerably faster alternative in an industry where paper checks are still frequently used for payment between insurance companies, hospitals, and patients, and where faxing is still a common way of information sharing. Blockchain would enable the same speed of transactions as those accessible in other industries, in a secure and traceable manner, by eliminating antiquated and paper-based procedures in favor of electronic solutions.

Secure transactions:

Cyberattacks will only rise as technology develops and healthcare procedures become more contemporary and less paper-based. To safeguard their own and their patients' privacy, hospitals, insurance companies, and healthcare IT businesses must become more secure. Blockchain technology offers a stronger line of defense to protect patient information, claims transactions, and more because it is decentralized and widely dispersed, making it much more difficult to corrupt.

Traceability and dependability:

Because there is no way to verify that an email was received and because it's possible for it to get caught in an outbox or spam folder, many healthcare executives prefer not to communicate critical information over email. Blockchain technology combats this by offering proof of delivery, reception, and opening to ensure traceable and trustworthy communication and remove transactional obstacles. The blockchain's distribution network, which reflects changes in real-time, prevents cancellations or returns of supplied items.

Issues With Adoption:

Blockchain technology isn't being widely adopted by hospitals and other healthcare organizations due to two main obstacles. The first is that the adoption of new technology in healthcare is typically slow. The healthcare sector would need to adapt its infrastructure and operational procedures, but also individual healthcare organizations would need to adopt them. An industry that has struggled with electronic information exchange and using various IT systems would take a big step by switching to blockchain implementation. Another important point is that healthcare organizations cannot "purchase" blockchain from any vendor. Since it is a brand-new technology, a foundational infrastructure must be created. Blockchain-based payment applications and APIs must be created before the technology can be broadly accepted and made more user-friendly.

Blockchain's Future:

There are many https://womenvitamin007.blogspot.com/ misconceptions about what blockchain is and how it functions because it has historically been linked to bitcoin or cryptocurrencies. Despite its intimidating appearance, blockchain technology has the power to completely change the healthcare sector by enhancing security, transparency, and integrity. It is fascinating to talk about the possibilities that the technology brings, even though mainstream implementation of blockchain in healthcare is most certainly years away. CTOs and other IT leaders should continue to follow the growth and development of blockchain in the interim since it is expected to become a more important factor for businesses in the future.

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