Blockchain is a public ledger of cryptocurrency transactions with the potential to revolutionize data management and exchange in the healthcare industry.
Blockchain is already a powerful tool in the financial sector because the ledger cannot be altered or accessed without permission. These principles make blockchain uniquely suited to host healthcare transactions and patient information. Several blockchain companies on this list allow patients to manage their health data, granting access to their clinicians, family members or researchers; others focus on healthcare supply chain management and financial transactions.
To add your company to this list, contact Jess Cole at jcole@beckershealthcare.com and Laura Dyrda at ldyrda@beckershealthcare.com.
Accenture (Dublin, Ireland). Accenture is a global professional services company that includes strategy, consulting, digital technology and operations services. Accenture partnered with Microsoft and Avanade to develop an identity prototype based on blockchain technology that could provide a digital identity for 1.1 billion people who don't have a formal ID. Creating a formal ID for individuals such as refugees can become critical as they seek education and healthcare services.
Astri (Hong Kong, China). The Chinese government formed Astri, formally known as the Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology Research Institute, in 2000 to enhance the country's competitiveness in the technology industry through applied research. Astri developed a health technology platform that aims to drive disruption in the traditional healthcare field with preventative health monitoring, medical computing and diagnostics.
Blockchain Health (San Francisco). Blockchain Health is a software company that provides healthcare organizations with HIPAA-compliant blockchain solutions. Users can share health data with researchers using the integrated platform, which creates a tamperproof chain of information custody.
BLOCK M.D. (Thailand). BLOCK M.D. is health information exchange and EHR on our enterprise-grade, permissioned-based blockchain platform. This platform enables secure, high-data-integrity interoperability across hospitals, health tech startups, labs, insurances, regulators and, definitely, patients through well-defined API and data standard. The company is partnering with Thai government for trial in 2018.
Blockpharma (Paris, France). Blockpharma is a French start-up focused on solutions to trace drug sales online. Blockpharma developed an application programming interface that can plug into pharmaceutical companies' information systems, so when the companies release product information and QR codes, the blockchain records subsequent transactions.
Bloq (Chicago). Bloq produces enterprise grade blockchain technologies to organizations across industries. The company's bloqEnterprise software solution allows users to create, test, update and customize permissioned blockchains; bloqThink provides the strategic architecting, design, development and education for bloqEnterprise; and bloqLabs provides space for blockchain research and testing.
Bowhead Health ICO (Singapore). The Bowhead platform comprises of the Bowhead device which monitors a customer’s biometric data to dispense personalized supplements and medicine. The patent pending “Anonymized Health Token” allows customers and Bowhead token holders to be compensated for the leasing of medical data, and patients have full control of this by means of smart contracts. We believe patient data is some of the most valuable data in the world. The first health survey game is due during the third quarter of 2017 and Bowhead hardware device trial for 200 people due in the second quarter of 2018.
Brontech (Sydney, Australia). Brontech uses blockchain powered by Ethereum, a decentralized platform for applications, to create a decentralized infrastructure for data wallets. The company distributes data storage and ensures integrity while also rewarding users with a native digital currency managed on the blockchain. Users contribute data in exchange for the company's digital currency, cash or offers from business partners.
BurstIQ (Denver, Colo.). Founded in 2015, burstIQ's platform leverages blockchain and machine intelligence to bring together disparate data sources into a unified, HIPAA-compliant data repository. The platform is fully operational with multiple business customers; in 2016, the platform processed 25 billion data points. BurstIQ's HealthWallet allows users to buy, sell, donate, license or loan data; the LifeGraph platform brings together an individual's health data in one place and allows users to manage data through smart contracts. BurstChain is the company's big data blockchain platform for securely managing large, complex health data sets.
Chemonics (Washington, D.C.). Chemonics is an international development consulting firm spanning 70 countries and industries. In October 2016, Chemonics and BanQu partnered to establish the Blockchain for Development Solutions Lab to build, test and scale blockchain solutions that aim to reduce poverty and increase the effectiveness of social programs.
ConsenSys (New York City). ConsenSys is a venture production studio building decentralized applications and end-user tools for blockchain ecosystems, focused on Ethereum, a decentralized platform for applications.
Doc.Ai (Palo Alto, Calif.). Doc.AI's Robo-Genomics platform is a deep conversational agent designed to improve genetic data comprehension and provide decision support. The agent can converse on disease, traits, pharmacogenomics and family planning. Doc.Ai's founder Walter De Brouwer was one of three parties that executed the first life insurance contract on the public blockchain with bitcoin in January 2017.
Factom (Austin, Texas). Factom is a blockchain-as-a-service technology company that received $8 million in Series A funding in April 2017. In November 2016, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation awarded Factom a grant to develop an infrastructure for medical records on the company's blockchain.
Gem Health (Venice, Calif.). Gem is an enterprise blockchain company. The GemOS enterprise platform for healthcare allows all stakeholders secure access to shareable data with the right permissions. The platform is in compliance with HIPAA, streamlining communication along the continuum of care. Gem entered into a partnership with Philips in 2016 to explore how blockchain can support the patient-centered approach to care.
Guardtime (Irvine, Calif.). Guardtime's platform is designed for data and systems security at the industrial level. The company partnered with the Estonian eHealth Foundation in February 2016 to accelerate the adoption of blockchain-based transparency and auditable lifecycle management for patient records. The partnership integrated KSI blockchain with existing Oracle databases for increased security, transparency, auditability and governance for electronic systems and patient records.
Hashed Health (Nashville, Tenn.). Hashed Health is a collaborative healthcare innovation firm dedicated to blockchain and distributed ledger technologies. The company forms work groups to develop networks focused on specific healthcare uses and provides services such as network product management, development, regulatory guidance and technology support. In July 2017, independent healthcare IT company Change Healthcare joined Hashed Health's consortium to help advance blockchain innovation and distributed transactional protocols in healthcare.
HealthCombix (Nashville, Tenn.). HealthCombix's platform is a token-based healthcare payment and risk management network enabling payments, data asset monetization and risk adjustment. The platform preserves digital privacy while allowing for interoperable data exchange, giving patients and providers control over the data. The company believes blockchain technology will allow consumers to control the brokerage of their data for research, precision health, clinical trials, payment and disease intervention.
Health Linkages (Mountain View, Calif.). Health Linkages' platform enables healthcare institutions to do better, more secure and more private data analyses in population health and precision medicine. Health Linkages collects and encrypts the data when it is created and keeps a complete history of the data and its linkages throughout the lifetime of the data point. This ensures the data is structured, intact and quickly available for analyses leading to minimal data curation and better results. Health Linkages is ideal for sharing data, allowing institutions to share data for analyses without revealing sensitive inputs to the other parties, but allowing all to share in the results.
Health Wizz (Falls Church, Va.). Health Wizz is a wellness application platform that acquired healthcare blockchain company kreateloT in January 2017. The combined company is working on Mercatus, a platform allowing individuals to build their own digital health portfolio and grant access to medical researchers, health data scientists, pharmaceutical companies and others in one marketplace to advance precision medicine. Mercatus would allow users to write smart contracts on Ethereum blockchain to trade health data for crypto-currency.
Hyperledger (San Francisco). The Hyperledger Healthcare Work Group identifies opportunities for open source software development projects to host on Hyperledger, an operating system for marketplaces, data sharing networks, micro-currencies and decentralized digital communities. In May 2017, Hyperledger hosted a Hyderabad Meetup to discuss the most beneficial blockchain applications in healthcare.
IBM Blockchain on Bluemix (North Castle, N.Y.). IBM Blockchain is the first managed service for Hyperledger Fabric, enabling the creation of blockchain business networks that owners can control and distribute across different organizations. In August 2016, IBM won the HHS Office of the National Coordinator of Health Information Technology's blockchain health IT ideation challenge with a paper describing the potential impact blockchain could have on resolving interoperability, scalability and privacy challenges in healthcare.
Medicalchain (London, U.K.). Medicalchain uses blockchain technology to store health records securely so physicians, hospitals, laboratories, pharmacists and health insurers can request a patient's permission to access the record as well as record transactions on the distributed ledger. Medicalchain is set to launch in September 2017.
MedRec (Boston). Graduate student researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston developed MedRec, a system for managing medical records using the Ethereum, a decentralized platform for applications. MedRec is designed for patients to control their medical data, including clinical EHR records and data from personal health wearables like Fitbit. Patients can securely allow healthcare providers, researchers and family members to access their data. Medical researchers can also mine the data to sustain the blockchain authentication log and receive anonymous medical metadata in return.
Microsoft (Redmond, Wash.). In June, Microsoft partnered with Accenture to build a blockchain prototype for healthcare as well as other industries. The blockchain will create a digital identity for 1.1 billion people around the world who don't have a formal identity, including refugees. The current model builds on Accenture's blockchain and operates on Microsoft Azure's cloud platform.
Netki (Canoga Park, Calif.). Netki aims to support blockchain use with the Open Source, Open Standards tools for digital identity. The company removes risk and compliance barriers to blockchain projects. In May 2017, Netki launched a digital identity service to make blockchain safe for business, finance and healthcare applications. The Digital ID works across public and private blockchains to reduce risk associated with blockchain transactions.
Pantera (San Francisco). Pantera was founded in 2013 as a blockchain investment firm focused on advancing blockchain technologies.
Patientory (Atlanta). Patientory was founded in 2016 through the Boomtown Health-Tech Accelerator in Boulder, Colo. Patientory collaborates with Denver-based Colorado Permanente Medical Group, a member of Oakland, Calif.-based Kaiser Permanente. Patientory allows users to create profiles on a mobile app to securely store, manage and share medical information. The solution is compatible with Epic, Cerner, Allscripts and Meditech, among other EHR systems.
PointNurse (Nashville, Tenn.). Founded in 2014, PointNurse is a virtual and on-demand care platform that allows nurses to lead consumer-focused care outside of the hospital and clinic setting. The platform is a blockchain-based digital community enabling licensed professionals to engage in secure and private conversations with patients in remote locations.
PokitDok (San Mateo, Calif.). PokitDok provides a free, secure software development platform for healthcare businesses. The company powers DokChain, a distributed network of transaction processors operating on financial and clinical data across the healthcare industry. As of March 2017, the company had raised $48 million to develop DokChain.
PwC (Arlington, Va.). PwC is a network of firms delivering assurance, advisory and tax services across industries. PwC offers DeNovo, a platform designed to deliver on-demand proprietary blockchain and cryptotechnology content as well as research and insights on the industry. The firm also offers value opportunity assessments, customized blockchain-based tests and expertise on implementing blockchain solutions.
ScalaMed (Sydney, Australia). ScalaMed believes in centering and empowering the consumer on their healthcare journey. ScalaMed is building a scalable, integrated and secure platform for managing healthcare transactions and data. ScalaMed is beginning its healthcare revolution through providing a decentralized application for patients, doctors and pharmacists to manage, prescribe and dispense prescription medicines.
Stratum (Dublin, Ireland). Stratum is a software security company that works with organizations to secure critical processes. The company's Proof of Process Technology allows for data traceability and transparency, and creates a common audit trail secured by blockchain and cryptography.
Tierion (Hartford, Conn.). Tierion's HashAPI allows developers to anchor up to 100 records per second on the blockchain for free, with time stamping and data security. Tierion was the first company to join Philips' Blockchain Lab to explore using blockchain in healthcare. The company has also partnered with Microsoft to build a service linking data to blockchain to prove the data's integrity and existence.
YouBase (Englewood, Colo.). YouBase combines blockchain compatible technologies to deliver a secure and flexible container for independent data. The company's solution allows individuals to maintain their data and identity across networks and share data as they chose. Youbase.io is designed to decentralize sensitive consumer and personal information while compiling a single source of anonymous data.