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Among all the potential use cases that have been explored for blockchain in the health sector, one of the most promising – and one of the most likely to achieve greater momentum in the real world in the short term – is for supply chain management .
In other areas, mammoth players are already doing big business on how the immutable network of distributed registries can fundamentally improve the efficiency, security and integrity of the supply chain.
Just this week, it was reported that IBM is working with Abu Dhabi National Oil Company to help drive a blockchain-based logistics network, and that the Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba – calling itself the "most patented company world of blockchain "technology" – is betting to a large extent on what DLT can do for supply chain transparency.
Of course, many of these projects are focused on the large-scale version of the supply chain: international shipments, containerized goods, food supplies, etc.
But in the complicated and often fragmented hospital structure, where efficient monitoring of pharmacy orders, medical devices, surgical instruments and critical resources is essential, blockchain is already proving a new approach that is worth exploring.
Even better, for IT healthcare system leaders looking to take a few steps with a proof of concept or two, the supply chain lends itself much better to exploration projects than other more clinically focused use cases.
We showed this week how many questions remain about the details of DLT about patient privacy laws. But the lawyers we spoke to said that these concerns are not so prevalent when it comes to supply chain initiatives.
"It's much safer for organizations to dive their toes," said Foley Gardere's attorney, Eddie Block. "Because it does not necessarily imply personal health information."
Furthermore, it could be a good first step towards learning about bigger and perhaps more data-sensitive pilots. If hospitals "feel comfortable with how things work, doing more logistical and device-specific things," he said, "people will better understand how to protect the PHI as well."
"Supply chain management is another very effective technological use of blockchain," said Block's colleague, lawyer Peter Vogel. "In health care, you do not want to bring the wrong medicine to the patient and you do not want to get a corrupt device that does not work and put it in someone's body, it can help you confirm that you are using the right medication, or if anything it went wrong, you can track down to find out why it happened. "
Not for everyone, but it could maintain a great promise for the pharmacy
A recent report by McKinsey outlined the potential for supply chain blockchains in general, and found some great advantages, but also some limitations.
"For supply chains where participants are not known or trusted, blockchain technology can add trust, transparency and traceability," the McKinsey researchers wrote. "Almost by definition, these supply chains are complex, multi-layered, involve many parties and operate in a regulated environment that requires a higher level of traceability."
But for those logistic networks that include "well-known and trusted players, a centralized approach to the database is generally more than adequate," they said. "Many of these supply chains do not need blockchain technology to solve these problems, as they can take advantage of existing technologies that are best suited to their high volume transactions, either alone or with partners."
With that said, health care is looking for new and innovative blockchain applications seriously to help them solve supply chain challenges. At the start of this year, we reported a research from the Center for Supply Chain Studies, which is particularly interested in how DLT can help with the pharmaceutical supply chain.
This was not a limited pilot project. The research brought together a wide range of pharmaceutical industry stakeholders – manufacturers, wholesalers, retailers, hospital dispensers, regulators, pharmaceutical system associations, track and trace system vendors, blockchain companies and other experts – to learn how to "scale out" , platform response times, latency and interoperability between different solutions "for emerging DLT technology, said the founder of the Center for Supply Chain Studies, Bob Celeste.
"Blockchain technology can be a key to establishing a reliable information network that both industrial partners and regulators can count on to help maintain legitimate supply chain security and counteract the behavior of evil players," he said.
And who are those "nefarious players"? Drug counterfeiters, to name a few, with their goods risk the safety of patients and cost billions of dollars each year.
"With an estimated global annual loss of $ 200 billion due to counterfeit drugs, the integrity of the pharmaceutical supply chain may be one of the most relevant and challenging use cases for blockchain," said Tapan Mehta, director of Life Sciences at the DMI Mobility Company, in another IT health care news article a year ago. "A blockchain-based system could guarantee a chain of custody log, monitoring every stage of the supply chain at the single drug or product level."
"Logistically, blockchain aligns well with federal efforts as the national strategy for global chain security," added Kevin Clauson, an associate professor at Lipscomb University's College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, who will co-host a & # 39; deeper immersion in the blockchain presentation at Orlando's HIMSS19 on February 11th.
"One of the most promising benefits of blockchain from a patient safety perspective," he said, "is to help stem the tide of so-called SSFFC drugs – shoddy, spurious, falsely labeled, falsified and counterfeited – that continue to torment pharmaceutical supply chain. "
Twitter: @MikeMiliardHITN
Send an email to the writer: [email protected]
Healthcare IT News is a publication of HIMSS Media.
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