{"id":36075,"date":"2016-08-29T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-08-28T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bravenewcoin.com\/insights\/15-blockchain-whitepapers-awarded-winners-of-us-department-of-health-and-human-services-challenge\/"},"modified":"2023-11-27T22:49:22","modified_gmt":"2023-11-27T09:49:22","slug":"15-blockchain-whitepapers-awarded-winners-of-us-department-of-health-and-human-services-challenge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bravenewcoin.com\/insights\/15-blockchain-whitepapers-awarded-winners-of-us-department-of-health-and-human-services-challenge","title":{"rendered":"15 blockchain whitepapers awarded winners of US Department of Health and Human Services Challenge"},"content":{"rendered":"

A challenge held by the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS<\/a>) \u00a0to encourage Blockchain use in the Health Information Technology field resulted in 15 winning whitepapers<\/a>. The Department\u2019s Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC<\/a>) first announced the \u201cUse of Blockchain in Health IT and Health-Related Research<\/a>\u201d challenge in July.<\/p>\n

More than 70 submissions were received by ONC, \u201caddressing ways that Blockchain technology might be used in health and health IT to protect, manage, and exchange electronic health information,\u201d the Department revealed.<\/p>\n

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\"US\u201cThe \u2018Use of Blockchain in Health IT and Health-Related Research\u2019 Ideation Challenge solicits white papers on the topic of Blockchain technology and the potential use in health IT to address privacy, security, and scalability challenges of managing electronic health records and resources.\u201d
\n— – U.S. Department of Health & Human Services<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

With this Challenge, ONC is also looking for proposals of how blockchain technology can advance industry interoperability needs, as expressed in the ONC Shared Nationwide Interoperability Roadmap, as well as for Patient Centered Outcomes Research, the Precision Medicine Initiative, and delivery system reform, among other healthcare delivery needs.<\/p>\n

Winning papers from schools, businesses, and individuals around the country were chosen by the ONC based several different criteria, including market viability, creativity, the ability to inform and foster transformative change, and the potential to support a number of national health and health information objectives.<\/p>\n

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\"Vindell\u201cWe are thrilled by the incredible amount of interest in this challenge. While many know about Blockchain technology\u2019s uses for digital currency purposes, the challenge submissions show its exciting potential for new, innovative uses in health care.\u201d
\n— – Vindell Washington, M.D., M.H.C.M., National Coordinator for Health Information Technology<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

No two of the 15 papers covered the same use of blockchains. Topics range from using the technology to renovate payment systems to complete redesigns of the entire health records system. Some targeted specific improvement, like the medical claims process or Medicare, while others were wide-ranging multi-system plans to improve every system.<\/p>\n

Although each paper is already a winner and would make an interesting read on its own, several stand out as imaginative, or offer new use cases for blockchains.<\/p>\n

A group of researchers and students from Project PharmOrchard of MIT’s Experimental Learning lab penned the first whitepaper on the HHS\u2019 list, \u201cBlockchain and Health IT: Algorithms, Privacy, and Data<\/a>.\u201d The team proposed a strongly-encrypted, peer-to-peer, blockchain-based healthcare records database called \u201cOPAL\/ENIGMA.\u201d<\/p>\n

The system has many innovative features including the use of smart contracts to better manage access to healthcare records. The solution could enable certain parties, like doctors or drug companies, to jointly store and analyze healthcare data with varying access levels and in complete privacy. The project\u2019s overall goal would be to empower precision medicine clinical trials and research, but patients would ultimately own their own data.<\/p>\n

Accenture’s whitepaper, \u201cBlockchain: Securing a New Health Interoperability Experience<\/a>,\u201d focuses on \u201cthree of the most important applications relevant to the mission of the ONC.\u201d The applications are creating secured and trusted care records, linking identities, and recording patient consent.<\/p>\n

Citing that \u201ca blockchain must be additive to the healthcare ecosystem\u2014 users should not view it as a \u2018rip and replace\u2019 technology that invalidates or minimizes existing technology investments,\u201d the firm asserts the importance of integrating blockchain solutions with current health IT investments.<\/p>\n

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\"Accenture\"\u201cBlockchain technologies solutions can support many existing health care business processes, improve data integrity and enable at-scale interoperability for information exchange, patient tracking, identity assurance, and validation.\u201d
\n— – Accenture<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Solution Architect at Humana, Kyle Culver, submitted \u201cBlockchain Technologies: A Whitepaper Discussing how Claims Process can be Improved<\/a>.\u201d Culver explored how the claims process and overall healthcare experience could be significantly improved if smart contracts and blockchain technology are combined into a platform.<\/p>\n

Given the rising cost of healthcare in the U.S., he proposes using \u201ca platform through which a consortium would share information and execute smart contracts.\u201d<\/p>\n

Big-four professional services firm Deloitte, the second largest network in the world by revenue, threw their hat in the ring by submitting a multi-use-case healthcare paper, \u201cBlockchain: Opportunities for Health Care<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

The firm promotes the use of the technology as an enabler of \u201cNationwide Interoperability,\u201d and presents a framework for using blockchains in several roles; As part of a smart contract-based health information exchange, as a digital identity layer, and as a precision medicine database.<\/p>\n

MIT Media Lab and one of the world’s leading hospitals in Boston, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, submitted \u201cA Case Study for Blockchain in Healthcare: \u2018MedRec\u2019 Prototype for Electronic Health Records and Medical Research Data<\/a>.\u201d The prototype uses Ethereum smart contracts to demonstrate how principles of decentralization and blockchain architectures could contribute to secure, interoperable electronic health record systems.<\/p>\n

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\"MIT\u201cWe believe MedRec fits squarely in the White House\u2019s goals for the ONC to support the development of interoperability standards and requirements that address privacy and enable secure exchange of data across systems.\u201d
\n— – MIT Media Lab and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u201cThe Use of a Blockchain to Foster the Development of Patient-Reported Outcome Measures<\/a>,\u201d submitted by the National Quality Forum (NQF<\/a>), was also among the winners. NQF is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, membership-based organization that works to catalyze improvements in healthcare.<\/p>\n

The Forums\u2019 paper explores the use of the Internet of Things (IoT), in combination with Blockchain technology, for Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs), which are traditionally a series of questionnaires given to patients before and after surgery.<\/p>\n

PROMs provide the patient\u2019s opinion of both the outcome and the quality of care delivered, and the NQF feels that the combining the IoT and blockchains can help gather and store more detailed data than simple questionnaires.<\/p>\n

Adrian Gropper, MD, independently submitted a whitepaper called \u201cPowering the Physician Patient Relationship with \u2018HIE of One\u2019 Blockchain Health I<\/a>.\u201d The HIE of One, or Health Information Exchange of One, \u201cshifts the trusted intermediary role away from the hospital and into the blockchain,\u201d Gropper explains. \u201cThe blockchain can also provide the link between physician credentials and patient identity.\u201d<\/p>\n

IBM took a much broader approach, submitting a paper with almost 20 different use cases, from payments to preventing counterfeit drug overdoses. \u201cBlockchain: The Chain of Trust and its Potential to Transform Healthcare \u2013 Our Point of View<\/a>\u201d addresses the security, scalability, interoperability, and privacy of several key healthcare data issues, including many involved with electronic medical records.<\/p>\n

\"IBM\u201cIt is vitally important that healthcare organizations understand and explore blockchain technology today to ensure they are ready for the changes sure to come tomorrow. […] \u00a0IBM is committed to helping make blockchain real for business, and we will put the same force behind our efforts that we did in working to mainstream Linux, Eclipse, Java, Spark, and other open source technologies."<\/p>\n