Technology

Blockchain still going strong as Delaware Medical Society announces its use for medical records

A medical society as old as the US itself has announced it’s going to start using blockchain to start storing patient data.

The Delaware Medical Society has said its focus is on pre-authorisation and hopes to be able to deliver care more quickly by focusing on this step of care providers’ and medical insurers’ access.

“The entire health care community agrees that pre-authorization processes need improvement,” MSD Vice President Andrew Dahlke told the Dover Post. “We are confident that this Proof of Concept will not only address this particular pain point, but will lay the groundwork for streamlining other healthcare administrative issues as well.”

This is the result of Delaware governor John C. Carney Jr. signing a bill on Friday, resolving an issue which begun last year when his predecessor, Jack Markell, launched an initiative to promote blockchain efficiencies in government. The bill makes it explicitly legal for businesses to use blockchain technology for stock-trading and record keeping.

This also follows an Microsoft launch announcement of Coco Framework, an open source system that allows companies to code their own blockchain technology. More broadly, blockchain affords companies better database speeds, vastly improved confidentiality and more flexible network management. J.P. Morgan is already talking about merging its distributed ledger with Coco.

Microsoft’s announcement is symbolic of a broader trend – businesses are highly interested in blockchain technology and they want to use it. Microsoft having built a framework for these businesses is, in effect, a large Silicon Valley player throwing its weight behind the blockchain concept.

Blockchain’s history has been chequered and questionable, which in turn has brought its future under question. All cryptocurrencies function from blockchain technology, and many of them have been plagued by negative press recently.

The move from Microsoft, an introduction of blockchain at state-level and vote of confidence from medical companies (whose security is vital), is a big step in the right direction for the technology.
The news last week sent Bitcoin’s price up by over $100. It seems to me that the blockchain technology and cryptocurrency future is going nowhere but up, so despite the persistent doubts, it’s these kind of movements in the market which solidify its foundations.

Ben Allen

Ben Allen is a traveller, a millennial and a Brit. He worked in the London startup world for a while but really prefers commenting on it than working in it. He has huge faith in the tech industry and enjoys talking and writing about the social issues inherent in its development.

View Comments

Recent Posts

WEF calls on stakeholders to ‘inoculate’ public against disinformation ‘super-spreaders’: report

Those who decry 'disinformation' the loudest almost never give any examples of what they're denouncing:…

8 hours ago

Shift left, ship fast: How software teams can offer speed without sacrificing quality (Brains Byte Back Podcast)

Even the biggest software companies understand that moving quickly is no longer a luxury; it's…

1 day ago

Extremists weaponize COVID, climate issues with conspiracy theories about state & elite control: RAND Europe

The RAND Europe authors are so stuck in their own echo chamber they don't realize…

5 days ago

Digital ID, vaccine passports are expanding to pets & livestock: UN AI for Good report

Humans, animals & commodities alike are all to be digitally tagged, tracked-and-traced equally: perspective The…

1 week ago

Teaching with tech: What’s changing and why It Matters (Brains Byte Back Podcast)

Teaching has changed a lot over the years, from chalkboards to laptops, from printed worksheets…

1 week ago

‘Enormously intrusive’ collaborative sensing is beneficial to society: WEF podcast

The massive city-wide surveillance that collaborative sensing requires is a tremendous temptation for tyrants: perspective…

2 weeks ago