A hospital in Taiwan is going to see how blockchain may help medical record keeping and protest patient access to electronic copies of their information.
Taipei Medical University Hospital says its new Healthcare Blockchain Platform will be used to improve patient referral services and that first results also show potential for it to integrate individual healthcare networks so patients and their families can access their medical records with “relative ease”.
“Using smart contracts, hospitals and clinics can request and authorize patient record sharing easily and securely,” said the hospital in a press release, adding that distributed ledger would provide a way to safely link up electronic medical records with electronic health records from other clinics and hospitals – with over 100 community-based clinics involved so all can explore the use of blockchain technology in addressing “common pain points” in healthcare.
These include the transfer of data between medical institutions, personal patient portals and physician referral process, and use of the Platform will also come with a security feature of notification and consent before any transfer occurs, it promises.
The project is said to be part of the hospital’s implementation of the Taiwan government’s wider Hierarchical Medical system policy, according to reports; please go here for a longer report in the Taiwanese press on the announcement.
