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In the current landscape with the rising need for technology, blockchain is serving as the perfect solution for all industries. Several businesses now use blockchain technology to make processes accessible, simple, private, and safe. Many large industries have begun integrating blockchain technology, at least in part.
With various needs arising, more innovative ideas are coming in for multiple sectors. Several industries, such as finance, tech, and entertainment, are benefitting from Blockchain. Additionally, many miscellaneous cash outflows have been reduced after implementing blockchain technology.
Builtin estimates that by 2020, the US will have spent 20% of its GDP on healthcare alone. This can be decreased with the implementation of blockchain while increasing efficiency. Let's discuss how.
Blockchain for Supply Chain Management
A company's supply chain, which deals with moving items, has always been essential to its success.
A product's data maintenance and inventory management are as important as securely sending the product to the end user. These are devalued but pose a greater risk of harming the brand. Blockchain enables firms to manage this risk by boosting traceability and transparency.
The use of blockchain in the supply chain enables record maintenance so that the right person can always access all the data. This also reduces property damage and product counterfeiting.
As fake products reach the market like the real ones, it becomes hard for a layperson to differentiate. It may often cause financial, personal, or health burdens to people.
While most counterfeit goods only have a significant financial impact, they can cause irreversible health damage in healthcare. This is why critical care management has embraced blockchain to manage their supply chain.
Health Care Supply Chain Management
Healthcare supply chain management is crucial in streamlining quality medical requirements. According to an NCBI analysis published in January 2022, the global counterfeit market is predicted to be valued at between $200 and $432 billion.
As critical care of patients is vital for management, the industry needs to track the origin of the medicines. This might be hard to detect in the traditional supply chain system.
Blockchain-based healthcare-specialized supply chains focus on collecting the relevant data and certifications for all medical supplies. This ensures that consumers can have access to high-quality and approved medications. Furthermore, this gradually reduces the supply of fake drugs in the market.
Process of Supply Chain Management in the Healthcare Sector
Reputable supply chain distributors keep track of all the information on medical requirements from their point of origin till they reach the right hands. These details are stored in blockchains so that they can be referred to anytime.
By doing this, details verifying the authenticity and expiration can be shared with these trusted partners.
Critical Medical Demands and How Blockchain Technology Can Change Them
Besides being a definite source for tracking, the two other primary advantages of blockchain technology are data maintenance and quality management.
Data Maintenance
Healthcare is a diverse field that has huge data storage requirements. For example, the details of a single patient might be scattered across various hospitals. It is hard to maintain these under one source; moreover, it is expensive to do so.
The primary aim of healthcare blockchain is to maintain entire records of patients, including their medical history, prescriptions, and other information. Owing to the blockchains' secure nature, no details can be modified.
Furthermore, as all the data are connected, these blocks act as a single source of information outlet. Patients' overall health conditions are thus available to professionals so they can accurately provide diagnoses.
Quality Management
Counterfeit or fake drugs containing harmful components may cause serious health risks. These drugs are difficult to identify, as they are made to look very much identical to the real ones. Quality control and other requirements can be eased with the help of blockchain supply chain management.
Suppliers can attest drugs with a certificate of originality to ensure they are authentic. This makes it easy for healthcare industries to verify the product and its expiration and ensure that they are from a trusted brand. As the source of the drugs and equipment are identified, the quality is maintained.
Businesses Already Operating with Blockchain
The healthcare business has benefited from rapidly developing blockchain technology. Here are a few such services that have aided the healthcare industry in being more genuine and authentic:
Many other prominent companies and start-ups like IBM Blockchain, Modum, EncrypGen, Coral Health, Nebula Genomics, etc., have enabled healthcare to partner with blockchain in various ways. Healthcare blockchains in India like Shivom are also supporting Indian healthcare immensely.
Blockchain's Futuristic Potential in the Medical Sector
Blockchain is known for bringing innovation to the table, and healthcare is no exception:
Supply chain management and blockchain technologies are set to boost the healthcare system. These changes are evident with the many imminent innovations in the blockchain. The healthcare sector, in turn, will concentrate on streamlining medical quality and reducing counterfeit drugs, and making medications cost-effective at the same time.
