Policymakers to discuss emerging applications of Blockchain in healthcare at HIMSS 2019
The integration and application of Blockchain and its use cases in healthcare will be the core topic of discussion at the HIMSS 2019.
HIMSS19 will witness discussions regarding the use of blockchain in the healthcare industry. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will be offering updates on how blockchain could be integrated into clinical applications. The policy framework will be developed in the coming years to accommodate the fast-evolving technology.
The policymakers will be talking about the existing blockchain strategy of HHS and how the technology will impact healthcare in the future. The approaches will be weighed to make sure that the tools developed around blockchain technology in the private sector can make a hugely beneficial impact on clinical delivery.
The decision-making processes of HHS will be focused on at the session, leading to discussions about how the new technology can be integrated into the design guidelines to solve healthcare problems in the country.
The blockchain is already at work in Mass General, Mayo Clinic, and other leading health systems.
It is necessary for healthcare chains to familiarize themselves with blockchain, as it could transform the medical supply chain, digital health records, etc.
While HHS is still to decide when and how it will be setting the blockchain policies, its officials are also pushing the use cases and novel applications for DLT via initiatives like the Use of Blockchain in Health IT. There was another event called Health-related Research Challenge that was hosted earlier in 2018 by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT.
Blockchain has already been applied at HHS in the HHS Accelerate platform to leverage the ability of DLT to manage data more efficiently and be quicker and cheaper at making acquisitions.
Trend:
Clearly, MSSP programs and value-based payments are being driven a direction risky for Medicare providers. Hence, the providers will have to be good at analytics, especially when healthcare is the core responsibility. Effectively harnessing data and analyzing it in depth is the main topic of discussion for CEO Tim Putnam of the Margaret Mary Health. He will be accompanied by Caravan Health’s CMO Anna Loengard at their HIMSS19 session.
The program “Data analytics as a Population health Compass” will see Tim Putnam talking about the early adoption of population health and how it has benefitted their company. From the point of view of reimbursement, CMS is indeed taking a huge risk, as it could threaten the existence of community hospitals that take it on.
However, according to Loengard, there are a few pointers that could reduce the risk of adopting population health and could make it more beneficial.
According to her, optimizing the revenue generated from health initiatives should be the first priority. Secondly, gains can be increased while also giving birth to new strategies by concentrating on claims data.
Claims data can offer a clear perspective to providers by offering them first-time-visualization about the healthcare of their patients, where they are getting treatments, etc. It could be an eye-opening experience for the providers, as they will be able to learn utilization patterns. They could use the data and analytics to know why patients were choosing other competing hospitals over them, thus giving the providers a chance to make changes to their system in order to boost patient volume.
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