The Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT along with the Chamber of Digital Commerce co-hosted a Blockchain in Healthcare code-a-thon last week in Washington, D.C. Blockchain, known for bringing Bitcoin to the world, is of interest to the Health and Human Services Department; HHS would like to someday see patients gain access to and ownership of their own health records.
The code-a-thon required that each team develop a solution or application revolving around Metadata Tagging and Policy Expression, Identity Management and APIs, and Data Aggregation and Linkage. Teams were given 24-hours and were required to develop all technologies from scratch. Our NucleusHealth team competed against nine other teams and were one of just a few teams to create a fully functional prototype.
Leading the development was Chief Technology Officer, Chris Hafey. After the meeting, he spoke to HHS on the impact that this highly secure technology will have on the healthcare industry. Chris noted the differences blockchain can bring to healthcare compared to existing enterprise technologies. He stresses the high availability, identity and trust that is elevated in a blockchain-based system.
