Healthcare professionals are starting to investigate the uses of the blockchain industry, but most of this interest comes from outside the provider space, according to a market research report.
HIMSS Analytics, market research consultant and subsidiary of the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society business group, interviewed 160 technology decision makers in the healthcare sector for its report on blockchain use cases. The survey included input from suppliers, payers, pharmaceutical companies and medical device providers.
Healthcare professionals and government stakeholders have suggested various efforts to use blockchain, a permanent and shared register of online transactions or exchanges, to simplify health operations in recent years. Unlike a traditional database centrally located and managed by a party, a blockchain record is shared between a network of users.
At the start of this year, the National Institute of Standards and Technology has suggested that blockchain may be able to support health data retention processes by centralizing patient data and, in 2017, the consulting firm Deloitte published a report on blockchain potential to improve interoperability, provide chain operations and revenue cycle management in hospitals.
When asked to describe the current interest of their technology organization, almost half of the respondents in the HIMSS Analytics survey (45%) said they were still investigating or learning about the blockchain.
Of the 80 respondents who claimed to be still learning about the blockchain or who were actively securing support for exploring the use of blockchain, 55% said they were likely to implement a proof-of-concept or pilot test in following 24 months. The remaining respondents were divided on the opportunity or not that their organizations would implement these early projects in that time period.
Consultants, payers and pharmaceutical companies were twice as likely to have plans for a proof-of-concept blockchain or pilot test over the next 24 months compared to suppliers, with 38% versus 16%, respectively.
"While the current excitement and future prospects of blockchain in the health sector are encouraging, it is not without obstacles," reads the report. "Ultimately, it may take more than two years for most organizations to be ready to test a pilot blockchain or proof of concept."
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