Blockchain technology is being looked at by many as the solution for data security concerns. Those in healthcare are doing more than just looking. Fierce Healthcare brought this interesting topic to our attention in their article, “How Anthem is using blockchain technology to free up members’ data.”

The insurance giant, Anthem, has invested in several pilots of blockchain technology, which enables encryption of medical data and ensures the privacy of healthcare information. That includes a project to make it easier for patients to access and share their health data.

“The biggest application in healthcare is to create a system of trust between parties,” sad Rajeev Ronanki, senior vice president and chief digital officer at Anthem. “Right now, for many different reasons, between parties, whether it’s providers and health plans, or employers and health plans, and consumers, there isn’t an effective way to say who has rights to what information and how to create a trusted system for information sharing that’s secure and private and puts the consumer in the center of that.”

The company is testing the use of blockchain to provide identity management services for some members because they recognize that consumers have to manage healthcare data that exists in lots of locations.

Melody K. Smith

Sponsored by Data Harmony, a unit of Access Innovations, the world leader in indexing and making content findable.