David Chou, chief information and digital officer at Children's Mercy Kansas City (Mo.) hospital, shares advice on blockchain and how health IT leaders at hospitals and health systems may see success with enterprise-wide adoption of the technology.
Responses have been lightly edited for clarity and length.
Question: Where is blockchain in healthcare now and how will it develop in 2019?
David Chou: As I wrote in my blog in November 2018, there should be no more excuses on the lack of platform to use for developing a blockchain solution, as we finally have an explosion of major platforms. It does, however, take market education and tangible use cases to turn the buzz into a viable and effective model.
Q: What do you think will be the most significant blockchain applications in healthcare over the next five years?
DC: There are currently six major players in the blockchain game: Microsoft, Google, [International Business Machines Corp.], [Hewlett Packard Enterprise], Oracle Corp. and Amazon.
For anyone to win in the blockchain game, they must be the master at creating a trusted community that wants to work together to solve a problem using blockchain.
Q: What do health IT leaders at hospitals and health systems need to know about blockchain today?
DC: As everything goes in healthcare, community and crowd sourcing is key to breaking out as a strong platform and gaining the enterprise-wide adoption. The one that gains most momentum through numerous tested use cases, while still few, will win the trust of the community.
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