What do bitcoin and healthcare have in common? Not much until recently. Now an established healthcare provider is launching a system based on patient empowerment. The platform focuses primarily on patients with chronic and life threatening conditions such as pancreatic or brain cancer. The whole idea forms around the cryptocurrency concept of the blockchain. Keep reading to learn more or follow the original story here for additional details.
The new platform comes from healthcare company TrustedHealth. The platform allows patients to quickly interact with physicians and get quick access to consultations all over the world. This allows for a broad network of specialists to be available no matter a patient’s location.
The use of blockchain technology, says TrustedHealth, allows for sizable improvements in the safety of patient data. It allows for sensitive information to not only be securely stored and organized, but also exchanged rapidly when needed.
TrustedHealth also intends second opinions to play a large roll in its new platform. Research from the Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice showed that almost 90% of patients who saw a second physicians or specialist during a Mayo Clinic study received a more refined or completely novel diagnosis.
Having rapid access to information and second opinions potentially saves patients not only time but invasive procedures, and unnecessary risks.
TrustedHealth presented its plan before the World Health Organization (WHO) in February and has been engaged in discussion with the WHO over how to best further its mission since then.
Greg Jarzabek is TrustedHealth’s CEO. He describes the healthcare systems biggest problem as a “lack of trust in the existing healthcare industry.” Part of this stems form misdiagnosis rates being as high as they are. Another failure of the current system lies is locations. Expertise is not always available where patients live.
In Jazabek’s experience this meant losing his mother to pancreatic cancer. He tells the tale of traveling the world in pursuit of the best diagnosis or treatment. This caused him to realize just how scattered the medical knowledge in the world is. Now his company intends to make it so no patient will ever have to worry about where they are, or how much time and money they have when seeking a plan.
In some respects the plan is already in motion. TrustedHealth plans to integrate the already existing Trustedoctor. Trustedoctor is a virtual platform connecting patients and specialists, largely focusing on brain, lung, and prostate cancers. Trustedoctor currently spans a network of 80 doctors and 250 patients. It also boasts partnerships with 16 patient organizations and performs clinical trials with six hospitals in the UK, France, US, and Switzerland.
Growth for the company continues as a result of the blockchain format. Over the next few years, TrustedHealth intends to add support for 20 more conditions, and become connected to over 450 new specialists. Patients will be able to influence these decisions by voting. The entire system will be supported by a currency referred to as the TDH token. The common currency will allow patients from any location to pay doctors. Specialists will be able to spend token to access anonymized research information. TrustedHealth says it also intends to use part of its revenue to make care affordable for patients that normally would fall through the cracks.
