Imagine the healthcare industry backed by smart contract technology or how smart contracts can change the healthcare industry.
Yes! Blockchain made a revolutionary in almost all the business sectors and smart contract the powerful protocol of blockchain is implemented in all the business sectors to leverage the benefits of blockchain and smart contracts.
Healthcare industry landscape is expected to change drastically and would take over a new shape in the near future. As the blockchain technology is decentralized and streamlined with complete safety features, the benefits are leveraged in the healthcare industry and are utilized worldwide. Blockchain revolution in healthcare is the brand new scope under study in the present days.
Still, many people are not aware of the smart contract applications in the healthcare industry and how it impacts in a positive way to improve the overall business process of the healthcare industry.
In this article, we will look at how smart contract can change the healthcare industry.
Before that, you need to know the following :
How does the current healthcare system work?
Now the healthcare providers are connected to different health payers. The customers or the patients may pay a yearly or monthly premium to the health insurance organizations or health payers.
The service provided to the customers by the healthcare providers and service charge is paid by the health payers as per the premium opted by the customers.
Each time the data is verified by the health payers and they cross-check with the healthcare providers to reimburse the patient bill claimed by the healthcare providers and from the patients end too.
How smart contracts can change the healthcare industry
As day by day, there is an increased need for health services to be provided for the patients, it becomes a tedious process for the health care providers to look over their administrative inefficiencies, fake claims, drug counterfeiting, and any such fraudulent activities.
Here come smart contracts in healthcare with its rigid blockchain platform are safe and secure to prevent such fraudulent activities.
What are smart contracts?
Smart contracts are the protocols backed by the blockchain to verify the contract recorded between the two parties and execute the process as per the contract without any third-party intervention. Smart contract development can save time and money for your organization or business.
This smart contract will help to change the current healthcare industry in the following ways.
1.Data security
As with the current healthcare system managing and managing patient health records is an unending process as they keep on visiting again and again for any other health-related issues.
To maintain the data of the patients, the patient data can be stored in the smart contract so that data is viewed only to the patient and to the doctor they prefer, which is according to the smart contract recorded. This helps to protect the data of the patient.
2. Protecting health record information and providing quick health service.
As the smart contracts using blockchain technology is decentralized, the patient data recorded in the digital ledger of smart contracts in the blockchain can be easily viewed if they are shifted to any other hospital.
There is no need to fill many forms to transfer the patient from one department to another department within the hospital or to another hospital. It saves the overall time and the quick treatment can be provided to the patients.
Healthcare companies and the hospitals depend upon the patient data available in the database. This cannot be restricted completely as well as it is not secure to share all the data related to a patient's health record.
Smart contracts in healthcare will help to have a contract between the patient and the preferred health service company to execute the process by holding the private key of the blockchain with the patient so that they can provide the access only to the preferred service.
3. Assisting health insurance providers
Nowadays the cost for any good treatment with the reputed healthcare industry is expensive and for some, it is not at all affordable.
Patients or customers always look over the health insurance coverages to save their money in the future for any good treatment required.
Here comes health insurance companies to serve the customers as per the premium opted by the customers.
As the health insurance companies hold or process huge customer data on a daily basis, they can make use of the smart contracts in healthcare to save the patient's health insurance policy opted and it automatically saves the details in the profile of the patient.
This, in turn, will help the healthcare providers to know the health insurance opted by the patient when the healthcare providers are allowed to access the blockchain, which is a safe and secure database.
This will help the patient, healthcare providers, health insurance companies to process the claim without filling the details in the form or following any long procedure, which is time-consuming to reimburse the bill claimed by the patient or the healthcare provider.
4. Telemedicine
In this modern technology, the treatment is provided by using the telecommunication infrastructure and this is called telemedicine. It helps the doctors to analyze the real-time data of the patient admitted to the hospital via their mobile phones or by using any IoT devices.
This helps them to track the patient's condition without visiting the patient directly. It helps to provide the treatment in case of any emergency, without waiting for the doctor to arrive at the spot and some cases it saves the life of the patient with the quick treatment provided without any delay.
The sharing of patient data via mobile devices is prone to security theft. This can be solved by using the smart contracts in blockchain technology. The patient history is recorded in the blockchain and the smart contract is developed so that only the preferred doctor can view the patient details to provide the prescription or the treatment immediately.
5. Handles overall administrative inefficiency
Patients need to spend more time if they plan to visit a doctor. Most of the time they should run behind the reports to collect from different departments or by making appointments. Sometimes there will be lagging due to improper communication in handling the patient's appointments.
All these administrative inefficiencies can be easily handled by implementing smart contracts in healthcare. The smart contracts can be used to store the different departments at patient's blockchain record and can be used accordingly.
Conclusion
Finally, in this article, you will be able to see how smart contracts can change the healthcare industry. With the potential of smart contracts, it is evident that it is also going to be the backbone of the healthcare industry to maintain data security with high-level encryption, safety features to speed up the daily activities involved in the healthcare industry. There are numerous other real time applications of smart contracts as well.