Excitement around the potential of blockchain in healthcare has reached all-time highs and is accelerating. There is a hunger building across the industry for real use cases with real healthcare organizations transacting on blockchain, and proof points, case studies, or success stories that outline business values sought, results achieved, what worked well, and what needs improvement. Only through such hands-on experience can we validate the true potential of blockchain in healthcare, refine its application, improve any deficiencies identified, build trust, and scale it both in terms of the networks of healthcare organizations participating in various blockchain initiatives, as well as scaling blockchain in applying it to additional healthcare use cases.

The HIMSS Blockchain Work Group is forum of leaders from across healthcare including providers, payers, pharmaceuticals, life sciences, and industry experts worldwide, collaborating to advance the applications of blockchain in healthcare. I have the honor of participating in this group. At the recent HIMSS18 conference in Las Vegas I had the privilege of moderating a session, organized by the HIMSS Blockchain Work Group, with a panel of worldwide experts on blockchain in healthcare. If you missed that event you can now view the video on demand. At this event we had great, candid, deep discussion of the real value and challenges we are currently seeing in the application of blockchain across healthcare. The event was a great success and we had a full house of attendance, with all seats taken and three rows of people standing at the back! We also had more questions than we could get to during the time allocated. Clearly there is great energy, interest, and excitement about blockchain in healthcare, and opportunity for further collaboration across the industry to accelerate the realization of the associated business benefits, from reducing healthcare costs to improving patient outcomes.

I was honored to moderate a follow-on webinar session, also hosted by the HIMSS Blockchain Working Group, with this same panel of healthcare blockchain experts on June 4: Blockchain Reset – Seeing Through the Hype and Starting Down the Path. In this webinar each of the panel of experts shared their direct experience in piloting or preparing to pilot blockchain in healthcare this year. We heard about a range of healthcare use cases where blockchain has compelling business value, from provider credentialing, to provider directory, clearinghouse, and identity by consensus. We also discussed deployment considerations that are key to success including: privacy, security, compliance, interoperability, integration, identity, performance, and deployment options from on premises to the cloud. If you missed this webinar it is now available on demand at: Blockchain Reset: Seeing through the Hype and Starting down the Path, Part 2.

If you are in healthcare and interested in blockchain I highly recommend viewing this webinar on demand to hear from experts at the forefront of piloting blockchain in healthcare. If you have any additional feedback or questions, feel free to reach out to me.

Many healthcare organizations are talking about and considering blockchain. Those that get started first and start testing and incrementally improving to evolve and maximize healthcare business benefits will emerge as early leaders. If you would like to get started with prototyping blockchain for your healthcare use case I recommend take a look at Azure Blockchain Workbench which enables rapid prototyping and deployment to the Azure cloud, enabling you to focus on your pilot, business goals, and application logic rather than blockchain technology.

If you have a different healthcare use case in mind and would like to see if it is suitable for blockchain, I also recommend taking a look at the blog Blockchain in Health: Beyond the Hype in a Trusted Cloud. It outlines how to test your use case against the FITS (Fraud-Intermediaries-Throughput-Stability) model as well as the healthcare Quadruple Aim Outcomes to identify its business value proposition(s).

Microsoft is actively working with multiple healthcare organizations and industry partners on the application of blockchain in healthcare. Reach out to me if you would like to connect to introduce and explore synergies and opportunities for collaboration.

Blockchain in healthcare is fast evolving. I post regularly about new developments on social media. If you would like to follow me you can find me on LinkedIn and Twitter.

What other input, questions, or feedback do you have on healthcare use cases for blockchain? Feel free to leave comments below.