One of the Biggest Wins of the Implementation of Project Healthureum will be the Introduction of Longitudinal Health Records. Here's why

The current Healthcare system does not have a streamlined system of maintaining the medical health records of patients. This is because currently, medical institutions are operating under a centralized EHR database system where all the data is controlled from one central position, and other users need the authorization to access this data.

Another drawback is that medical institutions customize their EHR systems to suit their processes particularly. This lack of standardization makes information sharing difficult, coupled with the additional rules and regulations that restrict the sharing of data across medical institutions. This makes it difficult for doctors to get a longitudinal view of a patient’s medical history due to the difficulty in accessing their previous health records. This is especially the case when patients’ are used to visiting their family general practitioner for their everyday health concerns, but need to visit a specialist or different doctor for a specific health concern. This is where Project Healthureum can prove to be useful. Project Healthureum can enable the implementation of longitudinal health records in the following ways:

By Enabling Collaboration Between Medical Institutions

Project Healthureum uses the blockchain technology which is a decentralized database system that allows data to be stored and shared across a network of computers securely using cryptography. The records on the database are recorded chronologically and confirmed throughout the network by consensus. Hence the data is secure and cannot be altered. The use of blockchain technology will allow medical practitioners to be able to access the longitudinal health records of their patients regardless of their geographical location on the Healthureum platform.

The blockchain technology will enable medical institutions to run a decentralized EHR database system that is standardized across the entire sector. This means there is no one central computer controlling the data; rather, the data is accessible across the whole network of computers in real-time. This open sharing of resources across different systems will enhance the interoperability of medical institutions. With this technology, medical institutions can share the health records of patients across the platform in a standardized manner. The medical practitioner’s accessing these records would be quickly able to understand the information as it is recorded similarly across the platform.

Therefore, they can readily be able to determine the patient’s pre-existing prescriptions, illnesses, allergies and family history by looking at the health records. This longitudinal view provided by the streamlined and standardized access to the patients’ records would result in the provision of better efficient treatment of patients and also improve the patient experience by significantly reducing the time for accessing treatment.

By Enhancing the Security of Data Sharing Across the Platform

The implementation of longitudinal record sharing in the past has faced the hurdle of data security breach where patient records are hacked and used for other purposes. Research conducted by Deloitte indicates that in 2015, a staggering 112 million healthcare record data breaches occurred due to IT hacks. This has not only resulted in expensive litigation for the medical institutions, but it has also resulted in many stringent laws and regulations which have hampered the collaborative efforts of data sharing across medical institutions. Project Healthureum with its blockchain technology holds the solution to this problem.

The Blockchain technology stores its data in blocks and secures the data using cryptography. Once this data is stored in the blocks, it cannot be tampered with. Altering the data would mean changing the data across the entire network of millions of computers which is virtually impossible to carry out. The data is further monitored using timestamps which record the time when the transactions or records took place.

Timestamps assign a hash to all the data which allows the data to be stored chronologically hence all the parties on the platform can be able to track the record and verify the information it contains. This significantly reduces cases of fraud as hackers have no way of tampering with the data on the Healthureum platform. This alleviates the fear of medical institutions of sharing data across institutions since the security of their data is guaranteed under the Healthureum platform facilitating the adoption of longitudinal health records.

On the Healthureum platform, patients have control over their records as well. The patients can choose whether to share their personal information on the platform making their identity known or to share their data while maintaining anonymity. This reduces the risk of lawsuits arising as a result of sharing of unauthorized patient details while increasing the success of the implementation of longitudinal health records.

In Closing

One of the significant positive impacts of Project Healthureum will be the implementation of longitudinal health records which will significantly increase the efficiency of the provision of medical healthcare services. More information visit https://www.healthureum.io/