Three blockchain projects positively disrupting the health care sector

In a recent blog post highlighting the use case for blockchain in revolutionizing the health care sector, I made the case that blockchain has the potential to improve the systems and infrastructure behind healthcare, including the way data is collected and stored.

In this post, I’m going to go a bit further and highlight three amazing blockchain-based projects that are positively disrupting the health care sector.

Blockchain and the opioid epidemic

The opioid epidemic has ravaged communities throughout the United States, with 500,000 people dying from opioid overdoses from 1999-2019, and 136 people dying every day. Unfortunately, this crisis has only worsened during COVID-19, and there is no end in sight.

An essential tool in the fight against the opioid crisis is real-time and reliable data. One project, involving TAAL, nChain, and EHR Data, seeks to provide “a real-time single source of truth for all opioid prescriptions and eventually all prescriptions, so providers and pharmacists will have access to the most current and complete patient records.” More specifically:

With EHR Data, a public healthcare company in the United States, nChain is building a blockchain-enabled, unified overview of national prescription data, to analyze and gain a better understanding of the administration and process of opioid prescriptions. This initiative will create greater accountability amidst a fractured healthcare record system, but also serves to highlight the trust and immutability offered by the BSV blockchain, which is critical when medical records and private personal data are involved.

If successful, this would be a huge accomplishment in helping doctors make informed decisions with their patients while allowing for greater monitoring of opioid prescribing and the identification of potential predatory prescribing practices.

A blockchain-based digital vaccine passport

As the world continues to battle the COVID-19 pandemic, many jurisdictions have begin implementing vaccine passports as a way to safely re-open their economies and protect the most vulnerable.

San Marino, a small European country, recently approved its own blockchain-based vaccination passport. This passport operates on the VeChain Thor blockchain, and was conceived in collaboration with DNV, a large multinational risk management and accreditation firm. This “Digital COVID Certificate” not only covers vaccination, but can also store records of past infection or negative rest results.

According to Renator Grottola, the Global Director of Growth and Innovation at DNV:

The San Marino Digital Covid Certificate is an extremely portable certificate. Anyone can potentially verify a certificate without the need to download a specific app. The use of VeChain’s blockchain technology and, in particular non-fungible tokens (NFTs), makes it possible to increase confidence in the authenticity of the information, reducing the risk of counterfeiting.

This solution provides a high level of security, immutability, and accessibility, while complying with European Union standards. It is also easily accessible by anyone who may need to quickly check one’s vaccine status inside or outside of the EU, such as a concert venue, airline, or anyone that requires proof vaccination.

Using blockchain to improve vaccine supply chains

As the world continues rolling out mass vaccination campaigns to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, one blockchain start up is looking to improve how vaccines are distributing by developing more efficient and transparent supply chains. Given the complex nature of vaccine supply chains, especially since they require cold storage, this is essential work as many vaccines will go bad due to supply chain failures.

StaTwig hopes to resolve these supply chain issues by utilizing blockchain technology to improve the efficiency of food and vaccine supply chains. By making use of the immutable, tamper-proof nature of blockchains, StaTwig utilizes open ledgers to create a transparent supply chain.

StaTwig’s platform allows you to track important resources and products, such as vaccines, from start to finish, as they go through all steps from production to distribution:

As the resources go through different segments of the supply chain, the quality and other vital information such as temperature, location, purchase orders, and invoices are recorded. This data is distributed, decentralized and immutable, and therefore establishes trust, transparency, and authenticity in these supply chains.

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What are some other great blockchain projects disrupting the health care sector? Tweet us at @Crypto_Altruism, we’d love to hear from you!