Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) binds with Blockchain Startup MediBloc – BTC Wires

Of& nbspPrashant Jha

Blockchain as technology is often confused with its byproduct, cryptocurrency. Most people who have ever heard of blockchain often fail to distinguish between blockchain and Bitcoin. However, the case of the real world of blockchain is not only limited to tokenizations and cryptocurrencies.

Blockchain as a technology can best be used in data storage and health care, where the importance of data increases many times. In one of the first attempts by a major health institution, the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), one of the 5 major hospitals in the United States, was linked to a Japanese blockchain startup MediBloc. The purpose of the partnership is to create a decentralized patient data network to help the community more efficiently.

At present, data collection is carried out by different institutions such as hospitals, research institutions, insurance companies and pharmaceutical companies independently. These institutions work independently from one another. So there is no way to transfer this data securely.

Synho Do, director of the Laboratory of Medical Imaging and Computation, a joint venture between MGH and Harvard Medical School, commented on the new partnership, stating that,

"In partnership with Medibloc, we aim to explore the potentials of blockchain technology to provide secure solutions for health information exchange, integrate AI applications for health into the daily clinical workflow and support [a] platform for sharing and labeling data for the development of machine learning models. "

MediBloc aims to create a decentralized platform for sharing medical data, which is not just looking for a distributed ledger, but also to create new tools so that even inadequate data from independent hospitals can be made available on the network.

The aforementioned partnership is not the first attempt to implement the blockchain with medical data, but never before a major institution like MGH has decided to take the initiative. The problem with the previous form of data storage was the monopoly. Most hospitals hire IT, suppliers, to design data systems, which are not willing to let go of their developed and stored data. The question is so complex that most hospitals have more than one database for different diseases.

The partnership aims to change the storage and monopoly of patient data

The partnership between MediBloc and MGH aims to redefine the way in which medical data are collected, stored and used. Medibloc left its mark in South Korea and in December 2017 attracted public and government attention during its ICO. Another reason for its success could be its founders Kho and Eunsol Lee are doctors themselves. This aspect has also helped the brand to have a cordial relationship with government officials and hospitals.

Medi Bloc has had some success in getting partners in Asia. The list includes eight medical institutions and fourteen technological giants in the region.

The founders are confident that MediBloc will be fully functional by the second quarter of 2019. The blockchain-based network will use the Proof of Work (PoW) algorithm to complete the activities on the platform. Currently, they depend on the ten blocks that would be 21 on the main network to execute their transactions. However, once it has become mainstream, the size of the block would increase accordingly.

The company is also looking for the development of specific applications that help lay people interact with the blockchain without having to worry about the technical aspects of it.

Prashant Jha

As a content writer, Prashant believes in presenting complex topics in simple terms such as laity. He is passionate about technology and an avid reader.