Understanding Blockchain: Opportunities in Healthcare

Healthcare is tough.  Change is extremely difficult in our industry.  Yet, our industry is embracing technologies like blockchain.  While there is significant disruption power behind blockchain, it is a technology in its infancy.  Furthermore, the hype of blockchain as a transformative technology will need to overcome regulatory constraints and significant challenges that keep the status quo. That said, in a 2017 survey by IBM amongst 200 healthcare executives, 16% expected to have a commercial blockchain solution at scale in the next year.  This focus paper will demystify this technology describing how it works and will provide potential applications citing real-world examples such as interoperability, security and smart contracts.