Electronic Health Record Patient Portals and the Blockchain Technology

The electronic health records (EHR) patient portals are an integrated eHealth technology that combines an EHR system and a patient portal, giving patients access to their medical records, exam results, and services, such as appointment scheduling, notification systems, and e-mail access to their physician. EHR patient portals empower patients to carry out self-management activities and facilitate communication with healthcare providers, enabling the patient and healthcare provider to access the medical information quickly. Worldwide governmental initiatives have aimed to promote the use of EHR patient portals. The implementation of EHR patient portals encompasses several challenges, including security, confidentiality concerns, and interoperability between systems. New technological approaches like blockchain could address these issues and enable a successful worldwide implementation of EHR patient portals.

Data Security in Clinical Trials Using Blockchain Technology

Blockchain technology in a clinical trial setting is a valuable asset due to decentralization, immutability, transparency, and traceability features. For this chapter, a literature review was conducted to map the current utilization of blockchain systems in clinical trials, particularly data security managing systems and their characteristics, such as applicability, interests of use, limitations, and issues. The advantages of data security are producing a more transparent and tamper-proof clinical trial by providing accurate, validated data, therefore producing a more reliable and credible clinical trial. On the other hand, data integrity is a critical issue since data obtained from trials are not instantly made public to all participants. Work needs to be done to establish the significant implications in security data when applying blockchain technology in a real-world clinical trial setting and generalized conditions of use to establish its security.

Dentacoin

Blockchain is a decentralized digital ledger of transactions shared amongst all participating web nodes, over which every data is recorded. Since the first blockchain was conceptualized in 2008, much research has been done to expand its applications to non-financial purposes. Dentacoin is the first cryptocurrency ever created worldwide that strives to create a dental industry community by rewarding people with a given token—Dentacoin cryptocurrency—for specific actions that have a desirable effect on the Dentacoin ecosystem. This concept aims to improve the global dental market by applying blockchain technology advantages and promoting intelligent prevention in dental healthcare. The purpose of this chapter is to review the concept of blockchain-based Dentacoin ecosystem, as it is expected that, in the future, this method will significantly improve dental health and oral hygiene habits, thus improving the quality of life for individuals resulting in overall health enhancement and increased longevity.

Combining E-Commerce and Blockchain Technologies to Solve Problems and Improve Business Results

The internet and digital transformation have changed our relations with the market. These technologies have been developing continuously, creating opportunities for new business models, and e-commerce has grown overwhelmingly worldwide, changing the consumption process of a large part of the world's population. Companies are increasingly using blockchain technology to improve and create new global trading business models. Blockchain had its first application in cryptocurrencies, but it has quickly become a major solution in all sorts of activity sectors, providing increased security in commercial transactions. An important question is how the blockchain can leverage e-commerce in solving problems and improving business results. It was concluded that blockchain could leverage e-commerce in the four fundamental areas of (1) e-commerce financial transactions, (2) e-commerce supply chain management, (3) e-commerce forecasting and contractual relations, and (4) e-commerce transactions systems' trust and credibility.

Application of Technology in Healthcare

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted healthcare worldwide and laid several fundamental problems that will have to be tackled to ensure high-quality healthcare services. This pandemic has represented an unparalleled challenge for healthcare systems and poses an opportunity to innovate and implement new solutions. Digital transformation within healthcare organizations has started and is reshaping healthcare. Technologies such as blockchain and IoT can bring about a revolution in healthcare and help solve many of the problems associated with healthcare systems that the COVID-19 crisis has exacerbated. In this chapter, IoT and blockchain technologies were discussed, focusing on their main characteristics, integration benefits, and limitations, identifying the challenges to be addressed soon. The authors further explored its potential in describing concrete cases and possible applications for healthcare in general and specifically for COVID-19.

The Evolution of Trust in Money

Trust is vital to the sustained existence of money. No currency can prevail without it. However, following the international crisis of 2008, the liability-side of trust became increasingly apparent. Blockchain and cryptocurrencies challenged the need to trust and proposed an alternative “trustless” system. In the context of rising interest and concern about cryptocurrencies, the authors intend to discuss the role of trust in the evolution of money, from ancient Mesopotamia to modern sovereign fiat currencies and cryptocurrencies, and whether cryptocurrencies are prompting a shift in the paradigm of money or not.

A Concrete Way to Develop Clinical Research in a Fair Way to the Users/Patients Using Blockchain Technology

Blockchain is being explored as a potential solution to many problems in areas other than the one created initially: cryptocurrency. Blockchain technology allows the authenticity of data, security in transactions, and privacy without the need for a third party. For that main reason, one of the growing interests concerns its application in healthcare, namely in clinical research. Multiple pain points of clinical research might benefit from the implementation of blockchain technology. This chapter shows some examples in which this technology is already implemented, identifying the advantages of its use. One of those advantages is clinical research, with the possibility of the patients managing their own clinical data and being properly rewarded for that. Research about clinical data monetization for patients is currently limited, and this chapter also proposes a hypothetical scenario of health data monetization workflow.

Blockchain and Clinical Data Economics

Clinical research evolved side-by-side with technology, leading to exponential data generation contributing to social and economic development. Nevertheless, data storage, integrity, and privacy concerns have emerged, raising trust issues regarding data sharing. This chapter will demonstrate how blockchain technology (BT) can address these problems and help optimizing processes, minimize costs, and monetize data. It will explain why these models are not fully explored and how cryptocurrencies are advantageous compared to traditional currency. Worldwide examples of companies developing network infrastructures that rely on private players will be provided, and European cases, where consortium models that count with different partners to build health blockchain infrastructures are being developed, will be discussed. Considering the business models to be addressed under the European Union (EU) jurisdiction, a hypothetical BT-based healthcare model with potential application in the EU scenario will also be highlighted.

Blockchain Pharma

Blockchain, a distributed ledger technology (DLT) that sustained the creation of the first digital currency, Bitcoin, crosses many business areas, including healthcare, to promise better economic solutions. Blockchain generalized implementation is already a reality in Estonia, perhaps the most digitally advanced country globally, with proven healthcare results for its citizens. From a pharmaceutical industry perspective, blockchain offers solutions as diverse as the structuring of clinical trial protocols, the traceability of medicines along the supply chain, and intellectual property rights. Additionally, the DLT's cryptographic protocol, whose main characteristics are immutability, consensus, security, and transparency, may support both the web's decentralization and the transition to a Semantic Web, which is recognized by many as highly recommended.

The Real Blockchain Game Changer

The single critical output of a blockchain is creating trust where previously impossible. While this feature delivers compelling value for many use cases (bitcoin for money, standards setting and data sharing for permissioned blockchains, audit trails and protection against liability in supply chains), the most novel use case has been something unexpected: the birth of a new type of social structure to provide goods and services. The early examples of this new type of social structure have shown themselves to be incredibly effective at providing those services to their users.