Blockchain technologies: Opportunities in healthcare

Abstract

Blockchain is a decentralized transaction and data management technology first developed for the Bitcoin cryptocurrency. The reason for the interest in this technology results from its decentralized nature, which provides security, anonymity and data integrity without any third-party organization in control of the transactions and, therefore, it creates interesting research areas. One of the business sectors that can benefit from this technology is healthcare. In this paper, we present and describe relevant aspects of the blockchain technology and we discuss some use cases in the healthcare area which might be improved by the use of this technology. To demonstrate its relevance to the healthcare sector, we present some real life examples of blockchain projects being developed to solve specific problems of this sector.