Название: Blockchain and Health: Transformation of Care and Impact of Digitalization
Автор: Jan Veuger
Издательство: Nova Science Publishers
Год: 2021
Страниц: 324
Язык: английский
Формат: pdf (true)
Размер: 10.2 MB

The secure storage of medical records is vital to any healthcare system. Relying solely on centralized servers increases the likelihood of sensitive information going public. Transparency and increased security of Blockchain technology make it an ideal platform for storing medical records. Patients can safely store their privacy-sensitive information by securing their data on a Blockchain using cryptography. This enables them to share their medical information with any healthcare institution with their approval. The healthcare system is currently very fragmented, but if all users were to use a secure global database, the flow of information between them would be much faster. A great advantage of a global database is that clients do not have to tell their story every time. A medical specialist, for example, can see exactly what a patient has been through and what treatments and examinations have taken place. The information is also available in real time to the healthcare professional the client has indicated to have access to his file.

A new revolution is taking place that is clearly different from the third industrial revolution (Internet, communication and globalization). This fourth industrial revolution involves a fusion of technologies such as biotechnology, nanotechnology, Artificial Intelligence, robotics, the Internet of Things, cloud computing and Blockchain. With this book in three chapters, we present the impact of Blockchain and digitization in healthcare with (1) a systematic literature review om implementing Blockchain solutions in health care and organizational consequences, (2) Blockchain in health care and (3) transformation of elderly care and impact of digitalization.

Blockchain has four basic principles that distinguish Blockchain from other automation technologies:

1. Growing chain: a chain of data blocks that builds up over time and cannot be
unilaterally changed.
2. Distributed network: the chain is distributed to all participating parties and is a
shared truth.
3. Consensus: Parties involved must agree on the data stored in the last block.
4. Data storage in the form of cryptography for the data in a Blockchain.

These four basic principles form the character of Blockchain. For all applications and every use, you will see these basic principles applied.

The Blockchain is therefore a distributed database (the library from the framework text) where data in each instance of this database are stored, comparable to a ledger. Everyone connected to the network on which the Blockchain runs has the same copy of the ledger. Before data are permanently stored, there must be consensus within a majority of the parties who received these data on the accuracy, origin and completeness of these data.

Where we are familiar with the exchange of information via the internet, Blockchain is about transferring value, as we know it from banks or the notary, but digitally. Key concepts for Blockchain are:

- Ledger: a list of information about all blocks.
- Stored: All the desired information is stored in each block.
- Distributed and decentralised: in the Blockchain, there are many parties - so it is not centralised - and all these parties are connected with each other. All these parties also have the same ledger. Everyone gets a copy of the full ledger and receives an update when something is added.