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An EMR is an electronic medical record. Data includes clinical visits that includes notation, symptoms and treatment recommendations of a patient visit.

PetLife ICO – Leading Blockchain Veterinary Platform

The ICO for Petlife supports its blockchain platform, which provides 24/7 veterinary medical assistance through telemedicine and artificial intelligence.

By using the App the owner of the pet can ensure essential medical assistance for the pet, namely remote consultations, interpretation of medical test results, storage of data and electronic prescription. In turn, the veterinary specialist carries out consultations, makes medical reports and gets payment.

petlife logo

Petlife has the ready-made prototype of the telemedicine platform. The service allows to collect clinical information, store medical data, prepare for medical testings, carry out primary and further consultations, monitor key indicators, control drug therapy and quality of treatment, make reports, carry out transactions. Petlife has been clinically tested and is starting to work on the market. The service has got reviews of the medical community and first clients opinions.

The clinical assistant model is being developed at the moment. It will work by means of self-learning neural networks. The module will create the optimal variant of pet treatment on the base of intermediate and input data, for instance, complaints, symptoms, results of medical tests, anamnesis.

The pet owner needs to choose the specialist (it may be a general veterinarian or narrow specialist, for example, a surgeon, radiologist, infectiologist), convenient time for a consultation, way of contacting the vet (video consultation, chat or call).   

The veterinarian goes through the medical record of the pet and the results of preceding tests and previous recommendations, studies the anamnesis, asks questions about pet’s health, and after the consultation the specialist makes reports, writes prescriptions for medication and gives necessary recommendations.

The electronic medical record stores the full course of treatment, fixes all the changes of pet’s state of health which can be added to the record by the veterinarian or the pet owner. This medical record belongs to a certain pet and remains unchangeable even if the pet is taken by another owner.

Key features of PetLife

petlife application

Remote consultations. During the consultation the vet can set a diagnosis, determine the course of treatment, analyze the results of medical testings and makes recommendations remotely.

Schedule. The veterinarian indicates consultation time, gets through the patient’s profile and sets the price for the consultation.

Emergency assistance. Even if the veterinarian isn’t online at the moment and so can’t respond to your message, other specialists receive the notification about your request.

Video chat. The attending veterinarian estimates the pet’s state of health, writes a prescription, works out the treatment plan and gives recommendation.

Data integrity. Data stored in smart contracts is encrypted and distributed between the nodes. It guarantees that no node will be lost or altered without a permit.

Billing system. Payment for the service by the patient and billing by the vet are carried out with fiat money or cryptocurrency.

Petlife solves the following problems:

  • The pet owner and the pet are far away from the city, or it is impossible to find the veterinarian in the nearby area. Then the option of the video consultation should be used.
  • The pet owner doesn’t trust the attending veterinarian or the diagnostician. In this case the Second Opinion service may be useful.
  • The pet owner cannot find the pet’s medical record. The solution is the electronic veterinary record.
  • The essential medicine is only dispensed on prescription. In this case the pet owner can get the electronic prescription.
  • The pet owner doesn’t have enough time to go to the clinic. Then telemedicine is the most optimal solution.

Blockchain medical record

In Petlife anamnesis, all testings results, presumed diagnosis and other information about the treatment of the pet whose owner wants to get a consultation are added to the electronic medical record that may be updated. In the App medical data is stored and the medical record is made. The veterinarian can study all the data to be ready for the forthcoming consultation, control alteration of the clinical indicator, estimate the treatment dynamics, send the patient to have some additional testings done, write prescription.

Telemedicine

Petlife provides the possibility to carry out consultations remotely in real time. The veterinarian can hold scheduled or emergency consultations with the pet owner by using video communication. Besides, the service enables several vets from different veterinary medical centres (up to 16 specialists at once) to hold discussion on complicated clinical cases. When the consultation finishes, the veterinarian makes a medical report, determines the course of the treatment, prescribes needed testings, gives recommendations and writes an electronic prescription.

Smart contracts

Petlife is the first application for veterinarians and pet owners which functions by means of smart contracts developed on the base of the blockchain technology. The Petlife smart contracts constitute a special computer algorithm. It monitors payment for services, data storage and input in the blockchain medical record. By using smart contracts, pet owners, veterinarians, clinics, and pharmaceutical companies can provide pets with necessary treatment, exchange information with each other, seek for needed drugs and pay for services.

Artificial intelligence

The artificial intelligence technology in the Petlife App identifies patterns in data got during previous testings, forecasts the possible deterioration of the pet’s state of health taking into account medical data got earlier, enables the vet to develop the plan of effective treatment of the pet, makes prompts and alternative ways to solve medical issues.

Petlife in the legal field

VCPR (Veterinarian-Client-Patient Relationship) is the jural definition of the remote consultation in veterinary medicine adopted in the USA and European countries. At the start of the project the main objective was that the service should be in compliance with the VCPR legal requirements.

What we use the blockchain technology in the Petlife App for

Data storage. Veterinary medical record contains reports of veterinarians, preoperative epicrisis and operation protocols, results of different types of diagnostics, prescriptions and recommendations. The whole chain of blocks is updated by the Petlife App online so that it allows to see the treatment dynamics or to assess the pet’s state of health.

Treatment. The Petlife App provides the access to medical data and medical record. One of the main principles of the service’s work – invariability of the chain – makes it possible for the vet to assess treatment quality, give a competent answer or make a report for judicial proceedings. The veterinary medical record can be used to control  treatment quality, study the dynamics of the previous treatment and monitor the results of the current treatment course.

Payment for services. The service allows to make:

  • Cross-border payments without additional charges for conversion of currency;
  • Express payment between the participants of veterinary medical assistance (insurance companies, veterinary clinics and pharmaceutical companies).

PETL Cryptocurrency Tokens

The PETL token is used as an internal mean of payment on the platform. This is the token that is in compliance with the ERC20 standard and based on Ethereum.

The purpose of PETL token issue is to attract investments ranged in size from $4M to $15M to develop the blockchain veterinary record and the mobile application, realize the strategy of investment marketing and start the monetization on the target market.

The purpose of PETL purchase is the possibility to pay for Petlife services. The PETL token provides the exclusive access to the goods and the right to get termless discount up to 30% on all the services offered by the Telemedicine OÜ company in the mobile or web version of the Petlife App. By using tokens users can pay the consultation of the veterinarian, buy insurance companies products, goods and medicines for pets, new services that will be offered in the App.

In addition, users can exchange tokens with each others during paid consultations thus sharing experience of caring for exotic pets.

Team

Andrey Fedorov, primary investor, M.D. and CEO. Has experience in the management of teams of medical specialists and was the head of the radiology department. Worked as CEO in the IT medical project and managed business practices in governmental institutions. Is well informed of all the aspects of the product development and organizational process, interested in innovations and features of medical technology.

Vlad Dyachenko, CTO. Has experience in the sphere of blockchain-development. Works on the development of the Petlife App: writes BACKEND and FRONTEND, builds Ethereum-based smart-contracts, checks the quality of the security system and teaches the service to use tokens. Vlad is a certified specialist in a number of technologies.

Marina Kuzmicheva, CMO. Develops the content plan and the marketing strategy. Works on the development, implementation and realization of marketing plans, coordinates marketing campaigns and controls the routine marketing actions of the organization.

Petlife has social significance. Every day thousands of animals need treatment. Every year the market of veterinary services is growing by 8%, and in 2017 it amounted to $30 billion. Medicine is not keeping pace with the dynamics of the market. There are some difficulties – lack of specialists, high cost of services, extra appointments, taking drugs without a prescription and low quality of medical assistance.

Petlife solves these problems with the help of telemedicine and blockchain. The service unites veterinarians and pet owners in a single ecosystem. The Petlife App provides video communication with the veterinarian, electronic prescription, medical record, search for the best vet, convenient payment for veterinary services and clinical protocols.

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Improving Your Health with Blockchain Technology

It is quite hard to enumerate all the benefits of telemedicine services based on blockchain, but the major one is that all transactions are guaranteed to be secure and transparent.

How Medicine Will Change In the Future

Medicine has to face some difficulties. In some places all around the world access to essential medical services is, unfortunately, limited. Even in advanced countries, huge queues still exist and can prove fatal or cause irreparable damage. In some countries consumers of medical services get debilitating medical bills, and patients as well as doctors frequently have restricted access to medical records.

Nevertheless, the sphere of IT which constitutes the second largest sector seems to have something to offer as a solution to the problem. Modern technology that is increasing at such a fast pace can provide us with yet unforeseen innovations that could dramatically improve the standards of treating patients. The amount of mobile phone users is growing incredibly quickly day by day. That means it will be possible to save more human lives as more people will have access to digital medical services.

How Modern Technology Can Help

Nowadays we can see the vast number of technologies accessible, and there are even more applications based on them. Huge amounts of data can be processed by such modern technology as artificial intelligence (AI), natural language processing, and machine learning, and that is impossible for us, human beings. Some other technology, for example, blockchain can enhance security, privacy, and efficiency of medical computing, or telemedicine can provide the communication between patients and medical specialists so that the patient can consult the physician about health problems that are not of great concern, and enormous databases allow common people to educate themselves on health issues to be able to care for themselves.

Certainly, some technological solutions in the sphere of healthcare are already on the market. Most of them function in a similar way.

Their main purpose of many medical blockchain platforms and services is to alter the healthcare industry for the better thus making it more convenient for their user, simplify medical record retrieval, optimize the process of treatment, provide wider health coverage, spread information about health and medicine to encourage people to live a healthy lifestyle. Telemedicine services based on blockchain unite experts in different fields such as medicine, artificial technologies, and IT. That can provide a wider range of opportunities for healthcare.

How Patients Can Benefit Using Modern Technology

Let’s imagine that you get sick or are just interested in maintaining your good health. Using telemedicine you have an opportunity to get a specialist’s piece of advise on what to do to recover or monitor your health condition (however, you should take into account that in some cases it’s necessary to visit the trained professional in the clinic to be examined and treated more carefully).

Apart from that, you can also use the service of the second opinion to make sure that your doctor chose the right way to treat you. In addition, telemedicine allows you to find better clinics and hospitals in your area.

Telemedicine Can Facilitate Doctors’ Job

The use of patients’ electronic medical records can greatly ease doctors’ job because the specialist can get as much information as necessary from the medical history to aid the patient and determine what treatment better suits him or her. Furthermore, vast database can help the doctor to keep the patient up-to-date on the latest medical recommendations about treatment and medicines.

Moreover, the doctor can contact patients to ask for information about their health or previous treatment, remind them of appointments, and carry out on-demand remote consultations. There is plenty of telemedicine services these days that allow medical specialists to maximize the benefits and gain experience.     

In addition, tokens enable its holders to invest them in anticipation of the price growth, or exchange them for any other cryptocurrency or fiat currencies. Basically, telemedicine services offers their  users not only medical or professional but also financial benefits.

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Patientory: Blockchain for Secure Peer-to-Peer Medical Records

The first quarter of 2018 saw healthcare data breaches impacting over one million consumers, patients, and health care plan members. With IT and hacking incidents one of the major causes of these breaches, patients and providers alike are eager to find more secure solutions for their data.

Enter Patientory, a blockchain solution based out of Atlanta, Georgia, that plans to provide a secure means to store and share Electronic Health Records (EHR) between patients and providers. By using secure and encrypted blockchain technology and streamlining storage solutions for date, Patientory hopes to revolutionize the way we share medical records.

What’s the problem with Electronic Medical Records?

Patientory’s comprehensive whitepaper describes the company’s to provide a “peer-to-peer EMR record” on blockchain technology. According to Patientory, the currently-used, legacy software that physicians and providers use to store patient data can lead to frustration among medical providers.

Because of various inefficiencies and technological problems, it’s difficult for doctors to strike a balance between interacting with patients and reporting accurately on their data. In fact, Patientory suggests that frustrating record-keeping methods might have something to do with high percentages of burnout in the field: between 2011 and 2014, doctors’ burnout rate has increased from 45 to 54%.

And readmissions are a serious and costly issue in hospitals, often caused by inefficient and outdated methods of communicating patient data.

These issues is compounded by the growing anxiety about health care breaches in the industry. With data  cyber-security data breach lapses alarmingly high (and expensive), it’s clear that current solutions for EMR storage just aren’t cutting it.

What’s the Patientory solution?

Patientory’s solution is to allow the transfer of medical records between physicians and patients in a much easier, more transparent, and more secure way.

It works with providers’ pre-existing EHR systems to create an all-in-one solution: patients and their providers can communicate health information through Patientory’s secure platform. They describe themselves as a “bridge” that can effectively connect healthcare record-keeping platforms. Their goal is to help streamline and secure health data transmission processes to create better transparency for consumers, make doctors’ jobs easier, and keep data more secure using blockchain technology.

Patientory aims to help patients, providers, and healthcare organizations

1. Patients

Patientory offers a powerful resource to patients who want to be more connected to their health care records. Especially for those with chronic diseases like diabetes, access to health records will allow patients to keep tabs on their health and therefore have greater accountability, access, and control over their health.

And even for those consumers with a one-time medical issue like a surgery or procedure, Patientory allows patients a way to quickly and effortlessly communicate to providers through their own individual profile.

2. Providers

Medical professionals using Patientory will be able to record, store, and transmit secure medical information in a more streamlined way. It also helps connect them to other healthcare providers in the patients’ network, allowing them to enjoy a more interconnected network and provide the best quality medical care to their patients. It will even allow providers to chat with patients or one another through HIPAA-compliant messaging system.

3. Healthcare Organizations

Many healthcare organizations are rightly concerned about data breaches. By using Patientory’s blockchain technology to store and transmit records, organizations can put some of the concerns about data safety in the hands of experts, rather than using valuable resources preventing and recovering from costly breaches.

Why Blockchain?

Ease and security: Dash, BlockCyper, and Patientory Blockchain Network

Patientory is unique in that it hopes to integrate its own private blockchain technology with the public blockchain technologies developed by Dash and BlockCypher. Users can use Dash “wallets” to transfer payments, while BlockCypher’s APIs make for swift and secure transmission of records.

In addition, they will use their own private blockchain technology. Patientory Blockchain Network will allow for HIPAA-compliant, secure, and decentralized records using algorithms that are fully compliant with NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology).

According to Patientory, health care information will be “shredded and encrypted” through their inter-operable blockchain network, making it extremely unlikely for it to be hacked or accessed inappropriately.

Cryptocurrency: the PTOY token

Though patients will be given a certain amount of free storage for health records with, Patientory’s PTOY tokens will allow them to purchase more data for storage. Interestingly, Patientory proposes a merit-based system in which healthcare participants can be rewarded for better care with PTOY currency. In additio, PTOY can also be used to execute smart transactions in health care organizations.

Patientory hopes to offer a solution to legacy models of storing and sharing medical information that create an undue burden on physicians, make it difficult for patients to offer their medical information, and contribute to costly health care data breaches.

Their decentralized blockchain network and powerful encryption standards should make them an amazing assets for patients, providers, and organizations alike.

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Blockchain Meets Healthcare with “HealthChainHack”

Blockchain Meets Healthcare with “HealthChainHack”

BlockTEST Announces Hackathon, Collaboration Across Technology and Healthcare Industries

CAMBRIDGE, MA: BlockTEST, a blockchain services startup founded on the MIT campus, announced that they will be hosting the upcoming hackathon, HealthChainHack. HealthChainHack is a virtual blockchain hackathon aiming to translate academic research into pharmaceutical advancement by bringing together coders and key healthcare players worldwide for a two-month coding camp. HealthChainHack will kick off at the close of Unblock the Blockchain, a one-day blockchain and healthcare summit on September 22nd, 2018, and run until winners are announced on November 17th
,
2018. Participants are challenged to develop a blockchain platform prototype to address an actual use case in the healthcare industry. Solutions developed through HealthChainHack are hoped to become the first proven-of-concept blockchain projects to be implemented at scale in the healthcare industry. HealthChainHack’s total prize pool, to be awarded at various points over HealthChainHack’s two-month timeline, adds up to over $262,000. Google, a confirmed sponsor for the event, has committed $100,000 in cloud credits as a prize for hackathon winners, plus $3,000 in cloud credits awarded to the first 50 qualified submissions. Additional prizes include access to Google Cloud’s startup program and three months free startup incubation at Cambridge’s Z-Park Innovation Center. Hackathon winners will be chosen through the combined assessments of an advisory judging panel and an objective evaluation by BlockTEST’s patented testnet.

In part, HealthChainHack will serve as the unveiling of said testnet, which BlockTEST developed to provide quantitative analysis on blockchain projects. Users will submit their code to the testnet, and receive in return evaluations on their blockchain solution, displayed upon a matrix of measures, such as performance, security, privacy, and consensus mechanisms. BlockTEST will further provide mentors, webinars, and demos over the course of HealthChainHack to guide participants through the competition.

Sponsors for HealthChainHack, including Google, XtalPi, NEO and Oasis Labs, have committed over $300,000 to the event. BlockTEST co-founder Jennifer Jiang said, “HealthChainHack is an incredible opportunity to link an international network of blockchain developers with high-profile academia, mentors, sponsors, investors, and employers with first-hand insights into industry needs. Through HealthChainHack, we hope to provide a prototype structure for a future global blockchain ecosystem that connects the key players in the drug R&D value chain, to facilitate a holistic, integrative and
traceable data sharing system, and ultimately to expedite pharmaceutical discovery and development.”

About BlockTEST, LLC: BlockTEST is a technical due diligence company for the world’s blockchain technologies. At BlockTEST, we collect and analyze blockchain data so that you can have the information you need at your fingertips. Using our intelligent testnet, we demystify complex blockchain projects and present timely information with strategic insights to solve problems and unlock new opportunities. We are obsessively passionate about blockchain technology, and our mission is to empower people to adopt it with ease.

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MedAI Network Addresses the Blockchain Storage Issue

 

Medical imaging is a difficult issue for the blockchain approach. The files are typically huge, and they need to be kept strictly confidential. Blockchains are publicly visible, and they accumulate data without limit. All participants’ records are stored on the blockchain, and they’re never deleted. A blockchain of medical images could grow to gigantic size in a short time, making it difficult to store and update.

MedAI Network is attacking this issue, claiming to find a way to put medical images on a blockchain. Its whitepaper discusses what is involved but still leaves questions open.

MedNetwork

MedNetwork

The software is called MedNetwork. It handles the privacy issue by encrypting the image data. The patient holds the “private keys or password” for decryption and can grant access rights to others on a selective basis. MedAI argues that this is more secure than existing systems, where each healthcare provider has its own repository. The lack of a consistent method of granting access can lead to security issues when trying to share information.

According to the whitepaper, telemedicine has led to growing use of imaging, and imaging is one of the biggest factors in increasing medical costs. The company expects that its approach will provide a better infrastructure for images and decrease the storage and access costs.

Artificial intelligence is a major component of the design. AI diagnostics, built into the blockchain as smart contract code, will assist physicians in diagnosing conditions from images.

Current status and plans

An alpha release of the software is currently available, and people can sign up to try it out. A beta release, version 0.1, is promised for March 2018. The alpha version includes a prototype for the storage engine and AI code based on algorithms licensed from SemanticMD.

The storage engine focuses on security that will satisfy HIPAA requirements. Imaging conforms to DICOM standards.

The company is based in Singapore and plans to open an office in the US in 2018. Its ICO of 10 million MedAI tokens began with a private pre-sale. The first public phase is scheduled for April 1 to April 14, 2018, and the second for May 1 to May 14. By running an ICO, the company hopes to better engage the blockchain community. MedAI also has backing from Mercatus Capital.

The ultimate goal is “to become the storage layer of the decentralized Internet.”

Questions and concerns

MedNetwork is taking on two challenges at once: the storage of images on the blockchain and the incorporation of AI software to interpret them. Either one is a major task by itself.

To succeed in its aim, MedNetwork needs to address two difficult issues. The first is the scaling problem. Medical images are typically megabytes in size, even with compression. If it’s going to be the destination for images for millions of patients, the blockchain could grow into the terabytes or petabytes. This presents scaling issues, as each copy of the blockchain has to be kept in sync with the others. MedAI needs to explain how it will manage scaling, and what economic incentives storage providers will have for handling so much data.

Another issue is granularity of access. The patient is supposed to be able to grant specified parties access to specific records. According to the whitepaper, records are secured by the patient’s private key, and “without the key, the data is secure and inaccessible.” That seems to imply all-or-nothing permission for all a patient’s records.

A whitepaper is not a technical document, so it’s quite possible answers to these questions exist. Companies developing new technologies are naturally reluctant to reveal too many technical details. Still, MedAI will need to convince investors that it has answers. If it does, it has a solution to one of the most difficult issues in healthcare blockchains and could become a very important player.

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Healthureum Aims to Cut Healthcare Costs with Smart Contracts

The Estonian economy is a little-publicized success story in Europe, with startups of many kinds. Healthureum, based in Estonia, is seeking to make its mark in blockchain technology for healthcare. It launched in 2016, set up detailed plans in 2017, and aims to introduce its application to five hospitals this year.

Healthureum’s aims include these:

  • To use the Ethereum blockchain and smart contracts to increase the interoperability and efficiency of healthcare services.
  • To incorporate a token-based payment system, which will also be used to reward referrals and second opinions.
  • To give patients ownership of and access to their medical data.
  • To secure patient data cryptographically.
  • To bring “S3” (standardization, scalability, and social responsibility) to healthcare services.

Simplifying payment

The most distinctive feature of Healthureum’s plan is the integration of payment tokens and healthcare information in the same system. WELL also uses tokens for payment between healthcare providers, but the token system is its primary focus.

Healthureum aims at a strong set of healthcare information features as well as a payment system in a single blockchain. It aims at providing a “complete supporting ecosystem” for providers, not just a method of small-scale payments. A major aim of the token system is to facilitate cross-border services by making payment direct, avoiding international processing fees and currency conversions.

The token is called the Healthureum, abbreviated HHEM. The HHEM will be the exclusive means of payment within the network. A Token Generation Event (TGE) ran in December 2017 to seed the system. It excluded a number of countries, among them the United States, Japan, and China.

Making health data available and secure

Participating patients will have their personal, medical, and emergency data all stored in encrypted form on a single platform. Large data files, such as high-resolution images, would make the blockchain unmanageably large, so they will be stored elsewhere, with access through encrypted links.

The system uses permission layers to control access, so that participants can read only the information that they’re authorized for. It promises instant access, so that the information is available in emergencies. Specialists will be allowed to see a subset of the patient’s data in order to provide a second opinion.

Naturally, patients want to know that the people treating them and getting referrals are qualified. This can be an issue if they have a medical emergency in an unfamiliar place. Healthureum states that it will confirm that all providers in its network are legally qualified. The patient will be able to see a referred doctor’s credentials through the blockchain.

Medical research

Some features of Healthureum aim at facilitating medical research. Patients who aren’t actively participating in medical trials can contribute their anonymized medical data. When they do this, they’re granting permission only for research purposes. Fraud in medical trials is a concern, since there can be financial incentives to make a treatment appear more successful than it was. Since the blockchain is safe against tampering, it guards against falsification of data.

Future plans

Where is Healthureum going from here? In 2018, it plans to work with two pilot hospitals to implement and test its standardized data framework. It will test the alpha and beta versions of its data systematization application and gather data and credentials for doctors in the test program.

After making any necessary fixes to the code and confirming regulatory compliance, the program will expand to five hospitals, adding the initial implementation of referrals and consultation. In 2019 it plans to add philanthropic activities and research programs.

The biggest challenge which any healthcare blockchain faces is reaching a critical mass of adoption. To be useful to patients, it has to give them access to a large number of facilities and doctors. Healthureum is staking its hopes on the combination of flexible, secure information and a payment system in the same blockchain. If enough facilities adopt it, it could be a success.

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Curisium Raises Millions for Blockchain-based Healthcare Contract Platform

Curisium is a Manhattan Beach, CA-based healthcare technology and analytics startup with a blockchain-powered platform built to support patient and value-based healthcare contracts. The Curisium team argues that their platform has the unique capacity to support individual patient data, rather than merely patient population data, greatly improving the platform’s flexibility. The team further argues that Curisium’s patient state-centered platform is far more effective for handling automated outcomes-based contracts than the event-centered platforms offered by their competitors. Curisium also maintains that their “cryptographic guarantees” have the potential to resolve longstanding trust issues between owners of patient data silos, thereby facilitating data sharing between payers, providers and life science organizations. At least five investment firms agree that Curisium is a genuine innovator in outcomes-based healthcare technology and have recently invested $3.5M in seed capital to fuel their growth.

A new approach to outcomes-based healthcare contracts

At the core of the Curisium offering is an end-to-end solution centered around patient-level data and focused on value-based care.

From patient populations to individual patients

While other outcomes-based healthcare contract platforms only address patient population data, Curisium addresses individual patient data. The company argues that their move to more granular, patient-level data gives their platform superior flexibility. When patient population data is needed, it can be easily aggregated from the patient-level data.

From event data to patient-state data

The Curisium team also maintains that their approach departs from another common tenant of legacy platforms: the focus on event-based data. According to Curisium, the focus among legacy systems on healthcare events generates sparse datasets that lead to relatively unreliable, opaque automated contracts. By contrast, Curisium’s health state-based approach leads to reliable, rich datasets well-suited for automated contracts and new insights.

The issue of trust

The blockchain-based Curisium platform addresses the issue of trust directly. Outcomes-based healthcare data is generally locked away in separate silos owned by separate payers, providers and life sciences organizations. Unsurprisingly, previous outcomes-based contract platforms have struggled with the delicate task of convincing the various data-silo owners to trust eachother enough to share and aggregate their highly sensitive and heavily regulated data. However, according to Curisium, their platform provides “cryptographic guarantees” that reassure payers, providers and life science organizations that their shared data will remain secure. Furthermore, Curisium’s blockchain-based platform inherently provides an immutable record of all transactions, creating a built-in audit trail that facilitates verification and dispute resolution.

Payment logistics

According to the Curisium team, legacy systems have had difficulty efficiently processing outcomes-based contracts. However, the Curisium platform has payment processing built in at a foundational level, leading to inherently efficient and affordable payment automation.

The team

The Curisium team is led by co-founders Peter Kim, CEO, and Francis Lam, CTO, both formerly of Aetion, a provider of evidential data supporting value-based healthcare solutions.

Kim is the former VP of Engineering at Aetion, where he led the engineering and product teams to build their leading analytics platform running on “real-world evidence (RWE).” As co-founder of Curisium, Kim saw an opportunity to address the “costly logistics, lack of trust, and difficulty verifying patient-level outcomes” faced by healthcare and life sciences organizations limited by legacy payment platforms.

Lam was VP of Data Science at Aetion, where he “pioneered the use of patient states” to greatly increase platform efficiency.

Funding

Five firms are contributing to Curisium’s $3.5M seed investment round: New Enterprise Associates, Shuttle Fund, Flare Capital Partners, Green Bay Ventures and Sanofi Ventures. Two investors will join the Curisium’s Board of Directors: Mohamad Makhzoumi of New Enterprise Associates, and Bill Geary of Flare Capital. In Curisium’s press release, Geary argues that Curisium “has the potential to rapidly accelerate the breadth and depth of innovative contracting arrangements” by virtue of its patient-level outcome verification and automated-payment capabilities. 

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2017 Distributed: Health – Nashville, TN

Distributed: Health Conference Overview

The conference targets the healthcare, law and IT services industries. This year’s program provides conference sessions and three key learning opportunities for registrants: a two unit continuing legal education component, a 24-hour hack-a-thon for developers and a code camp. The CLE is open to attorneys and non-attorneys. Its track requires advance registration and costs $199. The hack-a-thon competition’s objective is to build and demonstrate an original blockchain-powered application. The competition offers prizes of more than $10,000. The code camp provides hands-on workshops for all levels of blockchain developers. The camp costs $50 and meets at The Bell Tower from 9:30 am to 5 pm, September 25th. The conference sessions cover four learning tracks:

  • Blockchain for Business,
  • CLE,
  • Internet of Things,
  • Payments.

The two-day conference costs $649.

Sessions and Speakers

The conference kicks off with a keynote address from Change Healthcare CEO Neil de Crescenzo on his organization and its objectives. The networking lunch also features a keynote address. Dr. Harold Paz, Executive Vice President & Chief Medical Officer for Aetna will discuss his company’s Blockchain usage. The day closes with a keynote speech from John Sotos, Chief Medical Officer for Intel Health & Life Sciences.

The conference features multiple panel sessions. These include:

  • “A New Infrastructure for Healthcare,” combines presentations and discussion from: John Bass, CEO of Hashed Health; Bryan Smith, Chief Scientist of PokitDok; Miriam Paramore, President of OptimizeRx.
  • “The Future of Payment Models” with Ray Herschman, Vice President of Accountable Care Strategy and Business Development at Cerner Corporation; John Bass, CEO of Hashed Health; Francois de Brantes, Vice President & Director of the Altarum Center for Payment Innovation and Aaron Symanski, CTO of Change Healthcare.
  • “Blockchain IoT Use Cases: Scalability & Security” with Siva Kannan, VP of Engineering for Gem; Carlos Elena-Lenz, Director of Intelligent Products & Solutions for Cognizant; Frank Ricotta, CEO for BurstIQ.
  • “Introduction to Blockchain: Defining Use Cases” with Andrew Beal, Senior Manager of EY; Jennifer Georgino, Director of Ecosystem Development for Patientory; Brian Behlendorf, Executive Director for The Hyperledger Project; David Houlding, Director of Healthcare Privacy and Security for Intel Health and Life Sciences.
  • “Blockchain & Revenue Cycle Management” with Ray Herschman, Vice President of Accountable Care Strategy and Business Development for Cerner Corporation; Pearson Talbert, President of HealthcareTTU; Kyle Culver, Solution Architect for Humana; Scott Law, Executive Vice President of Corporate Strategy, Zotec Partners; Jim Sohr, Chairman of Powered Health.
  • “Clearing the Way for the Internet of Clinical Things” with Jason Goldwater, Senior Director of the National Quality Forum; David Metcalf, Director of the Mixed Emerging Technology Integration Lab at the UCF Institute for Simulation and Training; Kristen Johns, Counsel for Waller; Susan Ramonat, CEO of Spiritus Partners.
  • “Laying a Foundation for Success: State Initiatives in Blockchain” with John Wagster, Co-Chair of Blockchain and Digital Currency Practice for Frost Brown Todd; Giles Ward, Executive Director for Hashed Health; Kenneth Bradberry, President of BlockChange.
  • “Blockchain: The Individual & the Employer” with Frank Coliano, Operating Partner with The Riverside Company; Micah Winkelspecht, Founder and CEO of Gem; Peter Fuchs, Corporate Strategy for Mercer.

Workshops

The first afternoon also offers hands-on learning opportunities. A workshop, “Blockchain Use Case Workshop with Optum,” hosted by Mike Jacobs, a Distinguished Engineer with Optum, introduces participants to Blockchain case studies. A live demonstration session, “Demos: Blockchain in Action,” presents technologies from Hash///ed Health, IBM, PokitDok, and the State of Illinois.

CLE Session Highlights

A CLE registrants session, “Healthcare Regulation Meets Blockchain,” examines how Blockchain affects HIPAA compliance, legislative trends and regulatory issues. Panelists include: Caitlin Moon, COO and CDO for Legal Alignment; Larry Bridgesmith, CEO/Founder of Legal Alignment, Adel Elmissiry, CTO for Utilize Health, Jodi Daniel, Partner at Crowell & Moring.

A second CLE registrants session, “The Legal Challenges of Token Offerings,” looks at the legal ramifications of token fundraising including securities laws, border limitations and consumer protections. Panelists include: Les Wilkinson, Chief Development Officer for Hashed Health; Gray Sasser, Co-Chair of Blockchain and Digital Currency Practice for Frost Brown Todd; Jason Epstein, Partner and Co-leader of Technology and Procurement Group for Nelson Mullins; Alan Cohn, Counselor and Strategic Advisor for Steptoe & Johnson LLP. See the agenda for Distributed: Health

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MedCredits and Hippocrates: Diagnostic Telemedicine Using Blockchain

Blockchain technology seeks to connect patients with doctors on a decentralized platform to help reduce healthcare costs associated with office visits and middlemen. Several tech startups are racing to cross the finish line! One such, MedCredits, claims they’re the first blockchain powered platform that connects providers to patients worldwide on a decentralized network. Many in the industry anxiously await the announcement or launch date for token sale, and MedX token price. To receive the blue ribbon that label’s them as the first company to successfully integrate blockchain technology and smart contracts into current healthcare designs would give them a proverbial leg up on the competition.

MedCredits: Diagnostic Telemedicine Using Blockchain

Similar to other telemedicine startups, MedCredits desires to improve healthcare access and reduce rising healthcare costs. Developers believe trying to create a decentralized electronic medical record (EMR) is too difficult of a task to tackle all at one time, and rather approach implementation organically, growing the platform overtime by targeting medical specialties and slowly releasing software updates.

Instead of dismantling an entire electronic system and re-training workers, MedCredit team members are approaching blockchain-based telemedicine through integrating technology into readily accessible medical specialties, like Dermatology, to serve as a foundation for later application into other fields.

Dermatology is one of several specialties transforming the healthcare market by approaching it as a border-less, decentralized network. Diagnoses are largely based upon subjective descriptions and examination of skin, which Dermatologists agree can safely be accomplished with photographs and clear patient descriptions via smartphones.

medcredits

How It Works

MedCredits, built from the OpenBazzar code-based system, is working to seamlessly integrate Hippocrates, a user-friendly app connecting Dermatologists with their patients, on the MedCredits platform. OpenBazzar is a decentralized peer-to-peer sharing platform for goods and information. Hippocrates is a user-friendly app on the MedCredits platform, where providers and patients meet to discuss their skin concerns.

  • Global Network ~ Borderless access to Dermatologists! MedCredits’ goal is to globalize medicine!
  • Instant Connection ~ Hippocrates is a user-friendly application, prompting patients through each step to submit cases, receive diagnosis and hear treatment recommendations with the touch of a button.
  • Payment ~ Patients pay using MEDX, or ERC20 tokens, secured on Ethereum blockchain and regulated by self-executing smart contracts to track the automated transactions.
  • Diagnosis ~ After successful transaction, patients receive diagnosis and recommendations from licensed medical professionals without ever having to leave their environment!

Advantages

MedCredits opens up hospital doors globally, providing borderless patient access to physicians, assisting to remove geographical barriers to clinics, and improving health outcomes worldwide. Overtime, MedCredits hopes to extend its reach to other medical specialties, such as Cardiology and Neurology, to interconnect EMR with other departments and hopefully global systems.

  • Allows for physicians to access demographics who have limited mobility or means to attend regular appointments.
  • Records are available through secured access, giving patients the keys for their health!
  • Patients are given access to healthcare professionals for diagnosis, referral or treatment anywhere, at anytime!

Disadvantages

Research reveals that people spend over 90% of their free time on applications, though this doesn’t necessarily mean we should encourage it. Incentivizing patients through leaving star ratings, may impact an insurance company’s decision to provide coverage or include clinics in their network. This has possible ramifications on who is able to receive treatments locally, or be made to rely on smart technologies alone.

People as Links 

It’s undeniable that aspects of telemedicine and blockchain technology help to streamline healthcare processes. Studies may show that more people are comfortable interacting through a screen. Admittedly, it’s difficult to untangle persons with technology, as one will often times support the other. Companies like MedCredits make telemedicine possible, and with some more research, can hopefully help us drive our health forward into the future!

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Doc.ai – blockchain-enabled, AI-powered biology and health platform

On August 24th, 2017, doc.ai Incorporated announced the launch of a blockchain-enabled, AI-powered biology and health platform designed to interact directly with patients and share highly personalized medical insights with them. Doc.ai also named the “first beta customer” of its natural language processor and dialog system: Deloitte Life Sciences and Healthcare. Although in stealth mode prior to their announcement, doc.ai is now generating headlines centered around their purported invention of a “robo-doctor.”

A worldwide shortage of health professionals

The Palo Alto-based, biology and health-focused AI company sees their technology as filling a much-needed gap in the present healthcare system. They point out that the World Health Organization has estimated that we are suffering from a worldwide shortage of seven millions healthcare professionals. Doctors and nurses are overworked, and relieving their burden with millions of additional healthcare professionals will inevitably require extensive, costly training over many years. According to doc.ai, however, AI can help relieve their burden and improve healthcare outcomes immediately.

Information gathering

In a recent article entitled “The Robo-Doctor will See You Now,” PC Magazine reviewed the doc.ai app after the company’s CTO provided a demo of the first stage of the patient’s interactive experience with the AI. The demo began with the AI, through the CTO’s mobile phone, asking the CTO to take a picture of himself with his phone (i.e. a “selfie”) in order for the AI to guess his gender, age, weight, height and BMI, all from his headshot. According to PC Magazine, other than the app’s guess of the CTO’s age, which was off by only a “couple years,” its analysis “was spot on.” In the next stage, the “robo-doctor” asks the patient to take a picture of their medicine cabinet and blood results. Later, the AI guides the patient through the process of importing subsets of their medical records (including “a full sequence genome” if the patient has one available) from various sources. As the patient’s personalized health data collection grows from all of their medical sources, the AI soon learns more about their health profile than any individual medical source could know. According to doc.ai, this puts their app in a unique position to provide highly informed medical insights.

The AI-powered medical conversation

Once the aggregation of medical data is complete, the highly personalized, blockchain-enabled AI platform is able to respond to patients’ questions about their health 24/7 through the mobile app. According to the doc.ai team, the AI-supported dialogue is not merely a user-friendly interface for retrieving data already present in one’s medical record. Rather, it is a generator of new information and insight. In the company’s press release, doc.ai provides a number of examples of complex, personalized questions that the company claims their AI can handle, such as “What should be my optimal Ferritin value based on my iron storage deficiency?”

The first “beta customer”

Doc.ai is not only designing their AI to interact with patients, but health professionals. The company is currently testing their first module, Robo-Hematology, with Deloitte Life Sciences and Healthcare, their “first beta customer.” Co-founder and CEO of doc.ai, Walter De Brouwer envisions health professionals and institutions having a direct dialogue with lab tests themselves “by leveraging advanced artificial intelligence, medical data forensics, and the decentralized blockchain.” In addition to Robo-Hematology, within the next twelve months doc.ai plans to release two additional blockchain-enabled, AI-powered natural language dialog modules for use by leading medical organizations addressing specific areas of healthcare and life sciences: Robo-Anatomic and Robo-Genomics. doc ai

Neuron: the doc.ai blockchain token

In order to reward usage and run their blockchain-enabled AI technology, doc.ai is following the Ethereum token standard to generate their tokens, which they are calling “Neurons” (NRNs). Doc.ai is creating a marketplace for SAFTs (Simple Agreements for Future Tokens) on September 7th, followed by a token sale on September 28th. Upon launch, SAFTs will convert to NRNs. To tie the size of their token pool to their subject matter, doc.ai plans to make the total number of NRNs 86 billion, roughly equal to the human brain’s total neuron count.

If you’d like to learn more about Ethereum, here’s a useful guide.
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