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Up till now, we’ve mostly heard about how blockchain technology is ripening up and impacting finance and payments but apparently moving forward from this year 2020, the healthcare industry is going to be impacted quite a bit.
Healthcare is not the first sector you think of when considering the most likely sectors for blockchain adoption. However, the revolution is coming—and it will impact everything from the supply-side of pharmaceuticals to patient-doctor confidentiality. Here’s a finding on why blocklchain is growing in Asia.
According to a new report, blockchain is coming to healthcare. The report, issued by TMR Research, points to a few prime movers in the healthcare sector for blockchain. These include IBM, Microsoft, Hashed Health, PokitDok, Guardtime, iSolve, Gem, Blackpharma, and Patientory.
The push towards blockchain-based adoption in healthcare will be global, but a few regions are expected to lead the charge. North America will inevitably experience a boost as will Europe, but the real growth will come from Asia. The Asia-Pacific region is expected to witness the highest rate of growth.
The report also finds that blockchain technology will impact a few specific market segments. Healthcare payers will find that blockchain-based networks will make their payments easier while providers will be able to securely store confidential information on-chain. Moreover, pharmaceutical companies will be able to transparently track the movement of their supplies with the help of live data recorded on a distributed ledger. The end result is a verifiable process that is validated by many parties from top to bottom to ensure complete transparency.
But there seems to a hurdle right now.
Blockchain knowledge in healthcare is low.
Another reason for optimism in blockchain in healthcare is that it remains relatively unknown, so its impact will be felt strongly. According to an IDC European Survey reported on by BeInCrypto last June, 44% of healthcare providers have never even heard of blockchain. The emerging tech is also only in serious consideration for about 12 percent of all health organizations surveyed. This underscores how much this small subset of the healthcare sector still has to grow.
Although we can’t expect blockchain to impact every aspect of healthcare practice in 2020, it seems certain that the emerging technology will form a crucial component of health services in the coming years. Major firms like IBM and Microsoft will lead the charge in this exciting growth opportunity.
What is your opinion on this? Will blockchain technology make an impact as what the researchers are saying?