CDC tests the blockchain for the response to the epidemics – GCN

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CDC tests the blockchain for the response to epidemics

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are trying to use a blockchain layer to collect health worker data from silos to accelerate their implementation.

Before sending rescuers to crisis areas, CDC must find healthcare professionals with the right qualifications and review their medical permits, vaccinations, passports and visas. The implementation approval process extracts data from several CDC centers that have silenced – and sometimes conflicting – versions of data, which can significantly slow down the process.

"When we have several copies of data in different locations, we do not trust the data because we do not know what the exact data is," said Sachiko Kuwabara, director of the CDC's Risk Management Office, in October. 30 blockchain FCW event. "We end up with more systems trying to check if the other systems are correct."

To help make these systems talk to each other, Kuwabara said his office is testing if blockchain can help to make these disparate systems talk about each other. With its immutable record of all transactions with data, distributed register technology makes it easier to see if there are changes and errors in the data.

The proof of blockchain concept brings together relevant data that is disseminated in the CDC company. "Every node or individual on that distributed node or ecosystem gets a copy of the data in the form of a ledger at exactly the same time," said Kuwabara. "We are working with the same data, which reduces the need for reconciliation, and also starts to make these systems dialogue with each other".

The CDC uses the Hyperledger Fabric framework, which allows you to build microservices on top of the blockchain layer, so that CDC can test the technology without putting any other systems on hold.

"We must be able to continue doing business and operate as we have been, but also modernize ourselves," said Kuwabara. The demonstration of the concept should be completed by mid-December, he said.

CDC's National Center of Health Statistics is also trying to use distributed ledger technology to securely collect data from electronic medical records for agency reports and investigations.

About the author

Sara Friedman is a journalist / producer of GCN, covering the cloud, computer security and a wide range of other public sector IT topics.

Prior to joining GCN, Friedman was a reporter for Gambling Compliance, covering state issues related to casinos, lotteries and fantastic sports. He also wrote for Communications Daily and Washington Internet Daily on state telecommunications and cloud computing. Friedman graduated from Ithaca College, where he studied journalism, politics and international communications.

Friedman can be contacted at [email protected] or follow it on Twitter @SaraEFriedman.

Click here for Friedman's previous articles.

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