MEDIBLOC: A Decentralized Healthcare Data System

I remember one of our superiors in the construction industry saying, if it wasn’t written, then it never happened, and I totally agree with that. Records are very crucial in tracking the company’s historical data and in protecting itself and its employees from possible future litigations. Having a good record management system is vital not only in commercial establishments but most importantly in health sectors wherein medical records play a great role in keeping track of the patients’ health.

_{Photo source: Pixabay}

Medical records serve as the official communication between the patients and the medical practitioners. However, keeping medical records is more than just a documentation process. It also serves as a source of valuable information for tracking common symptoms of certain diagnosis and for keeping a relevant data of an epidemic disease. All of which are crucial for keeping a close look at a nation’s overall health system.

Challenges that affect the medical data management

We need not be medically-inclined individuals just to understand the lapses of the current health institutions in keeping medical data. Most common scenarios will go down to ineffective storage, weak accessibility, and issues in safety and security.

It can be painful to track one’s previous medical assessment that was made ages ago in a room of registry where piles of papers still need to be scavenged. As the time advances, the need of having an effective electronic medical records management system becomes more urgent.

Though hospitals are already incorporating digital registry within their systems, we cannot deny the fact that the patients’ accessibility to their own medical records is getting harder to acquire. Aside from that, the interoperability across different medical institutions are still bounded by their own privacy laws, making it even more difficult to create a unified health system.

MediBloc: A Decentralized Solution for having an Effective Medical Data Management System

It is seems like the tension between the growing consumer demands to access medical information and the current records management system of healthcare establishments is increasing rapidly. It is both challenging and costly to design an effective solution for this problem, not to mention the different barriers impeding the patients from gaining access to their health data which still need to be studied thoroughly.

Dr. Allen Wookyun Kho and Dr. Eunsol Lee saw this dilemma as an opportunity to improve the medical data industry by integrating the decentralized system of blockchain technology. The two of them have already established a good background in the fields of medicine and engineering, leading them to come up with a promising medical platform named Medibloc.

_{Photo from Pixabay}

The very aim of creating MediBloc is to give patients full accessibility of their medical data digitally, leading to cost-effective and systematic flow of exercising the need for medical services. MediBloc also allows the patients to share their data to concerned individuals which could greatly help in minimizing risks and cost of undergoing the same clinical procedures while maximizing the potential medical benefits to the patient.

Since making medical records widely available to the public is a huge leap of faith to be taken by health institutions, Medibloc ensures that the security, reliability, and transparency concerns are well-taken of.

MediBloc also came up with a detailed distinction of responsibilities and rights concerning the accessibility of medical records among the general users, healthcare providers, and data researchers which is shown below:

MediBloc is a Qtum-based blockchain which will be issuing Medi Tokens (MED) for the socio economic exchanges that will be happening within the platform. MED tokens will be used to incentivize the MediBloc users for their contribution and active participation. Such tokens can be traded externally to the exchanges where it is listed. On top of that, MED tokens can be used to pay for medical and pharmaceutical expenses, insurance premiums, and other medical privileges offered by the institutions associated with MediBloc.

Just recently, MediBloc announced that they will be building their very own blockchain while issuing MEDX, an ER20 token. One main reason is to give the MediBloc team a more optimized platform and a complete control in order to have a greater flexibility regarding the future developments of its services. Currently, MED and MEDX tokens can be traded in Bibox, Gate.io, Kryptono, Dex.top, IDEX, and Cashierest.

_{MediBloc’s Whitepaper | page 15}

In order to assess the degree of participation of the users, MedBloc will be establishing a point-based system through Medi Points (MP), which are non-tradable and will only stay within the platform. Such points may indicate the reputation of its users based on being active on MediBloc, but do not directly equate to the medical practioner’s level of skills, achievements, nor expertise in the field of medicine. However, the patients may use it as a reference for selecting a good medical practitioner based on his reputation.

Advantages of Integrating MediBloc to Medical Data Industry

MediBloc has already mentioned several use-cases of its platform which is pretty self-explanatory. I just summarized it through the infographic above. You can read the full content in MediBloc’s Whitepaper | on pages 21-23.

After laying all the necessary information regarding the solutions being offered by MediBloc to provide a better medical data system for the health sector, let me site important scenarios on how MediBloc will overcome the present medical data challenges in the health industry.

Currently, I am working as a civil engineer in one of the construction companies here in the Philippines. Our company is focusing on the installation of concrete piles (building’s foundation). Health and safety are two of the topmost priority in the construction industry. Since our company serves as a contractor for piling works, medical tests of labors and staff are necessary to be provided for the client to accept our workforce on site.

Now, here comes the problem. The contract duration of our projects averages 1-6 months. Now, if one worker is being deployed to an average of six projects per year, this only means that such worker will have to undergo six clinical tests per year as clients only accept original copies of medical certificates and results.

Aside from being costly in our company’s part to pay for the tests, the workers’ long-term health may be at stake. Having exposed to x-ray radiation numerous times per year may affect the health of the workers in the long run.

Now, if MediBloc will be used by industries that serve as contractors, one medical test per year might be enough. We don’t have to undergo the same painful and costly medical processes since we have the option to let our clients get access to our medical records digitally.

Once the patient is diagnosed with the same illness in the future whether on the same hospital or not, it is helpful to track previous health records on MediBloc in order to assess the patient’s historical medical data. The patient’s illness may be reoccurring and needs a higher level of medication as soon as possible than just going through the same clinical tests.

Since the patient has the privilege to share his medical data not only to the medical practitioners but also to the next of his kin, his descendants will be aware of the possible genetic diseases that they may get and try as much as possible to stay away from certain causes that may trigger such hereditary disorders.

Being able to track the historical records of a person’s relatives may also be helpful for life and health insurance companies to confirm that the policyholder may be prone to specific hereditary illnesses based on his ancestor’s medical data.

Since MediBloc ensures the integrity of the data being inputted into its system, the hospital may use it to show to the court as a good evidence against court cases. Similarly, the patient may also be able to use it for court proceedings if he finds that there is a mistake in the healthcare being given. Medical records may be altered manually but it is close to impossible to alter blockchain registries.

Medical records showing relevant data also help hospitals in assessing the competency of their staff. With MediBloc, hospitals will be able to analyze the quality and quantity of their services.

MediBloc

Currently, MediBloc has already established partnerships with large medical institutions and companies from other industries in order to realize a unified and a more systematic health data industry. If everything will work as expected, then this will be the start of a health data management system revolution. The whole world will now have a chance to enjoy a better medical care through careful recording, keeping, and sharing of medical records.

More Information and about MediBloc

• MediBloc Website
• MediBloc WhitePaper (ENG)
• MediBloc FAQ
• MediBloc Medium
• MediBloc Twitter
• MediBloc Facebook
• MediBloc Telegram

Disclaimer: This is not a financial advice. Readers are encouraged to conduct their own research with due diligence into the company, product or service mentioned in the content above.

This is an entry for @originalworks' Writing Contest

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Posted from my blog with SteemPress : https://pinayteenvestor.com/2018/07/10/medibloc/

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