Role of blockchain in healthcare industry

The healthcare industry today is a lot more advanced and is always progressing to benefit the patients and the practices. With the passage of time, the medical sector continued to center strictly around patients. The drive for patient-centric practices is much more now than it was ever before, and this has been far easier with the emergence of cutting-edge technologies like blockchain that is taking the healthcare industry each day towards perfection.

If you are still unknown to the blockchain, we will first discuss blockchain in plain and simple words, and then check how the revolutionary technology is benefitting the practices and the healthcare industry in general.

What is Blockchain?

Blockchain can be described as a decentralized node network that essentially stores data. The technology acts as a decentralized peer-to-peer (P2P) network of personal computers, also referred to as nodes. These nodes help in storing, recording, and maintaining historical or transactional data.

Nodes, blocks, and miners are the 3 main ideas in the blockchain. While blocks refer to the place that stores information and encrypts it in a blockchain, miners are the users who install and run a special kind of blockchain mining software that helps their computers to communicate with others with optimum security.

A decentralized and public digital ledger that block chain is, it proceeds with the recording of the transactions on many different computers. This makes it really tough to retroactively change records without altering any blocks.

Blockchain in the healthcare industry

Blockchain is the age's gift to the industries of today. All of the prominent industries that continue to thrive use blockchain to their benefit, including the healthcare industry.

The market size of blockchain technology in healthcare was last valued at $281 million in 2020. This is further estimated to witness a growth of 52.1% CAGR between 2021 and 2027. The demand for blockchain technology would be led by the increasing application of the Internet of Things (IoT).

Blockchain and its absorption are indeed growing in the medical industry as it is with any other sector. However, what exactly is the block chain technology doing, and how the future of the healthcare sector is brighter with blockchain technology, do you know that?

Well, you would not have to say no now after reading this article because in it we will take you through blockchain and what its benefits are for the healthcare sector.

How the role of blockchain in the healthcare industry is pivotal!

Blockchain is helping the healthcare industry benefit much with its unique set of features that are bringing nothing short of a revolution to the medical industry.

Here we will discuss some of the prominent advantages that blockchain technology is bringing to the healthcare industry:

Blockchain reinforces security and confidentiality

Blockchain technology stores data by saving it in a decentralized form of network. It does not save data in a single location, rather, a network of computers copies and spreads the blockchain.

As soon as a new block is added to the blockchain, the computers on the network update its blockchain to reflect the chain. This makes blockchain in healthcare one such technology that is quite difficult to tamper with.

Blockchain, thus, makes it easier for critical data in all industries, which includes the PHI in the healthcare industry, to be easily exchanged, along with keeping it secure and confidential. The rising technology also has the potential to dissolve all the barriers in multi-level authentication and put stringent security in place. GrowPractice is one of the most trusted medical office software providers that further strengthens multi-level security, enforces strong data encryption, and goes by the HIPAA guidelines to help practices offer the best and the most secure services.

It enhances accountability

Blockchain is verified. In blockchain technology, one block links to its preceding block, and thus forms a long chain. The name "blockchain" is given to the name of the record. This technology offers envious accountability because here you can easily check all the transaction history and other data, publicly after they are registered.

Besides, in blockchain, it is next to impossible to modify the information that is written. Therefore, the blockchain data always remains actual and unchanged.

It maintains the stability and integrity of data

Blockchain in healthcare assures stability because it maintains data on networks instead of a central database. The latter has proved quite vulnerable to hacks, thereby often becoming prey to cyberattacks.

HHS Office of Civil Rights has recorded 4419 healthcare breaches happening between 2009-2021. These breaches are not only annoying for the patients but they destroy the hard-earned reputation of practices too.

Blockchain is progressive

Blockchain offers promising forums that help the industries, and the organizations working under them to progress and evolve with modern and creative business models, which gives a tough fight to the traditional companies with their pre-established conceptions and business models.

It helps speed searches

Blockchain also helps perform searches faster than ever. This makes it indispensable for all of the industries of today, and especially the industries like the medical sector, which stores and handles incredibly large volumes of sensitive data. In addition, the cutting-edge technology makes it further easier to perform searches for applicants that match specific trial criteria via the database of a patient.

It brings transparency to the medical industry

Blockchain has the potential to make the entire process transparent in the medical units and practices, right from the manufacturing of pharmaceutical products to the shelving of them in shops.

With the emergence of blockchain and IoT, one can now easily track the direction of the freight, traffic and congestion, speed, and more. It also helps schedule acquisition efficiently. This would lead to putting a stop to all the possible shortages and disruptions in pharmacies, medical units, medical practices, and more, with the medicines.

Illegal drugs and their use has increased exponentially over the years. Illegal drug spending in the US has risen to $150 bn annually, as per the latest reports. These users procure drugs in many different ways, which is making a sizeable number of the present population victims of severe drug abuse.

With the deployment of digital frameworks built on blockchain, providers, manufacturers, and other organizations can ensure that the logistics data doesn't give way to uncontrolled adjustments. This will help significantly reduce the cases of illicit handling of drugs, records, payments, and more, thereby boosting the overall trust.

Blockchain makes interoperability easy

Interoperability is one of the most crucial requirements that is needed today with all the technological devices and advanced software surrounding us that are changing each day. Blockchain is one such technology that makes this dream of smooth interoperability real for the healthcare industry too among the other sectors of work.

GrowPractice is a distinguished medical office software provider that promises effortless interoperability between its systems and software. Besides, as EHR/PM software seems to rise in demand among the patients, GrowPractice has partnered with over 65 popular EHR/PM software that is commonly used by the medical units and practices to help serve the patients better.

Blockchain in healthcare enhances patient monitoring

Along with helping the monitoring patients via EHR/PM software, as mentioned earlier, blockchain technology also helps medical practices and other healthcare units to monitor patients who are admitted.

The monitoring of the temperatures within the rooms that the patients are admitted, their beds, and other supplies has a huge potential for improvement with the help of the all-new blockchain technology.

Reduces expenditure

With improvement in patient monitoring practices, helping incorrect use of medical and patient records, and more, blockchain aims to cut down the manual labor needed, thereby surprisingly reducing the overhead expenses.

Then adoption of efficient patient management and medical practice management software and systems brought in by GrowPractice would further help the practices score high in patient satisfaction and growth.

Reach out to GrowPractice and grow your practice each day!

GrowPractice is one such medical office software provider that helps the practices get secure software and systems to ease the patient and practice management and serve the patients better.

GrowPractice software is primarily absorbed by private medical offices/practices and urgent care units among others. Besides, the solutions offered by GrowPractice are also trusted by many of the US federal government agencies.

The solutions of GrowPractice are best-suited for all the prominent practice areas like surgery, endocrinology, cardiology, podiatry, pulmonary, OB/GYN, gastroenterology, multi-specialty, dermatology, oncology, neurology, urology, allergy and immunology, and more.

These software and digital solutions brought by GrowPractice offer:

• Two-texting benefits for patients and providers

• Digital patient check-in and intake procedures

• Easy online payment methods in an instant

• Secure online forms for patient documentation

• Effective digital patient appointment scheduler

• Customizable patient workflows

• Secure and automatic update of patient records

• Accurate billing practices

• Efficient follow-ups, patient reminders, and more.

You are never too late to choose GrowPractice to improve your healthcare systems and processes. The practice software solution providers had already helped grow patient satisfaction ratings to 97% for the providers who use GrowPractice systems. Furthermore, they have also helped in reducing the patient negative views by 85%.

The GrowPractice solutions also increased the collection rates by 20% and added $60,000 more revenue per provider. So, partner with GrowPractice now and steer ahead as a healthcare provider.