University of Waterloo Reports Findings in Data Sharing (Blockchain Applications in Health Care and Public Health: Increased Transparency)

2021 JUN 18 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- New research on Information Technology - Data Sharing is the subject of a report. According to news reporting originating from Waterloo, Canada, by NewsRx correspondents, research stated, “Although big data and smart technologies allow for the development of precision medicine and predictive models in health care, there are still several challenges that need to be addressed before the full potential of these data can be realized (eg, data sharing and interoperability issues, lack of massive genomic data sets, data ownership, and security and privacy of health data). Health companies are exploring the use of blockchain, a tamperproof and distributed digital ledger, to address some of these challenges.”

Our news editors obtained a quote from the research from the University of Waterloo, “In this viewpoint, we aim to obtain an overview of blockchain solutions that aim to solve challenges in health care from an industry perspective, focusing on solutions developed by health and technology companies. We conducted a literature review following the protocol defined by Levac et al to analyze the findings in a systematic manner. In addition to traditional databases such as IEEE and PubMed, we included search and news outlets such as CoinDesk, CoinTelegraph, and Medium. Health care companies are using blockchain to improve challenges in five key areas. For electronic health records, blockchain can help to mitigate interoperability and data sharing in the industry by creating an overarching mechanism to link disparate personal records and can stimulate data sharing by connecting owners and buyers directly. For the drug (and food) supply chain, blockchain can provide an auditable log of a product’s provenance and transportation (including information on the conditions in which the product was transported), increasing transparency and eliminating counterfeit products in the supply chain. For health insurance, blockchain can facilitate the claims management process and help users to calculate medical and pharmaceutical benefits. For genomics, by connecting data buyers and owners directly, blockchain can offer a secure and auditable way of sharing genomic data, increasing their availability. For consent management, as all participants in a blockchain network view an immutable version of the truth, blockchain can provide an immutable and timestamped log of consent, increasing transparency in the consent management process. Blockchain technology can improve several challenges faced by the health care industry. However, companies must evaluate how the features of blockchain can affect their systems (eg, the append-only nature of blockchain limits the deletion of data stored in the network, and distributed systems, although more secure, are less efficient).”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “Although these trade-offs need to be considered when viewing blockchain solutions, the technology has the potential to optimize processes, minimize inefficiencies, and increase trust in all contexts covered in this viewpoint.”

For more information on this research see: Blockchain Applications in Health Care and Public Health: Increased Transparency. JMIR Medical Informatics, 2021;9(6). JMIR Medical Informatics can be contacted at: Jmir Publications, Inc, 130 Queens Quay E, Ste 1102, Toronto, On M5A 0P6, Canada.

The news editors report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Frederico Moreira Bublitz, School of Public Health and Health Systems, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada. Additional authors for this research include Pedro Elkind Velmovitsky, Laura Xavier Fadrique and Plinio Pelegrini Morita.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.2196/20713. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

Publisher contact information for the journal JMIR Medical Informatics is: Jmir Publications, Inc, 130 Queens Quay E, Ste 1102, Toronto, On M5A 0P6, Canada.

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