“Blockchain is the most important technology after the Internet. The Internet is programmable information. Blockchain is programmable scarcity." — Balaji Srinivasan, CEO of 21.co Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get Original Essay Blockchain is a type of data structure used to create a digital record of transactions and share it across a distributed network of computers. The delivery network could include smartphones, tablets, cloud-based resources, or local compute nodes. Imagine a universal digital ledger that helps you define how you transact with other individuals or entities securely and anonymously. A key consequence of the registry is the idea of ​​“smart contracts,” which “provide superior security to traditional contract law and reduce other transaction costs associated with contracting.” Technologists and healthcare professionals around the world see blockchain technology as a way to make it easier to share medical records securely, protect sensitive data from hackers, and give patients more control over their information. Blockchain has the potential to drive innovation in preventative care and community-based healthcare models. The ability of a distributed ledger technology to ensure data integrity when sharing between parties can ensure collaboration amid growing trends in healthcare; which are vital to improving health in communities around the world. Please note: this is just an example. Get a custom paper from our expert writers now. Get a custom essay Here are some of the other ways blockchain could benefit healthcare: Clinical data sharing. Advance directives, genetic studies, allergies, problem lists, imaging studies, and pathology reports are just some of the data that may be distributed. Alternatively, instead of storing actual patient data, blockchain could be used to store access controls – such as who a patient has authorized to see their health data – even if the clinical data itself is stored by the EHR. Public Health. A shared, immutable stream of anonymous patient information could more easily identify pandemics, independent of government bodies currently aggregating this data, such as a flu reporting system. Research and clinical studies. Distribution of patient consent or study results could facilitate data sharing, audit studies and clinical safety analyses. Administrative and financial information. Insurance eligibility and claims processing workflows could benefit from blockchain and reduce transaction costs. Patient and provider identity. National (or international) identities of patients or providers could be protected in the blockchain, providing the basis for portability and security of healthcare data. Patient-generated data. Personal health devices, wearables, Internet of Things (IOT) devices, and patient-reported outcomes are just a few examples of patient-generated data that could leverage blockchain for security and sharing.