Five major US healthcare organisations are turning to blockchain technology to deal with concerns related to provider data.

The new healthcare consortium, comprised of Humana, MultiPlan, Optum, Quest Diagnostics and UnitedHealthcare, will launch a collaborative pilot programme that will use blockchain technology to enhance the quality of data and diminish administrative expenses related with changes to healthcare provider demographic data. The new programme will evaluate how the technology will enhance data accuracy and access to care when information is shared across health care organisations on blockchain technology.

The organisations will explore how blockchain technology can ensure that the most recent provider data is available in health plan provider directories. The programme will look into the high cost of healthcare provider data management. In addition, it will see how data quality can be enhanced by sharing provider information inputs and changes made by multiple parties across a blockchain, possibly decreasing operational expenses while increasing data quality.

Elsewhere, Slovenia-based blockchain startup Iryo says it will offer a modern electronic health record (EHR) system to improve the quality of healthcare provided in refugee camps in the Middle East. The project, Iryo’s maiden real-world use case, will give the refugees the full ownership of their medical records by securing those records in their mobile devices. Initially, the blockchain driven Iryo platform will be deployed in refugee camps of Lebanon and will soon be followed by other nations including Syria, Jordan, Iraq, Egypt and Djibouti.

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