What the healthcare sector’s experience of blockchain reveals about its real transformative potential: A cross-disciplinary analysis (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen Yeung
Keyword(s):  
Data Sharing ◽  
Real World ◽  
Social Trust ◽  
Grey Literature ◽  
Healthcare Applications ◽  
Successful Development ◽  
Computational Trust ◽  
Academic Literature ◽  
Blockchain Technology ◽  
Potential Benefits

BACKGROUND Academic literature highlights the potential benefits of blockchain to transform healthcare, focusing on its potential seamlessly and securely to integrate existing ‘data silos’ while enabling patients to exercise automated, fine-grained control over access to their Electronic Health Records (EHRs). Yet no serious scholarly attempt has been made to assess the extent to which these technologies have in fact been applied to real-world healthcare contexts. OBJECTIVE The primary aim of this paper is to critically investigate the healthcare sector’s actual engagement and experience of blockchain technologies to date to assess the extent to which the potential for blockchain technologies to transform healthcare highlighted in academic literature is likely to be realised in healthcare practice. METHODS This mixed-methods study entailed a series of iterative, in-depth, theoretically oriented desk-based investigations and two focus-group investigations. It built on findings of a companion research study documenting real-world engagement with blockchain technologies in healthcare. Data was sourced from academic and grey literature drawn from multiple disciplinary perspectives concerned with the configuration, design and functionality of blockchain technologies. The analysis proceeded in three stages. First, it undertook a qualitative investigation of observed patterns of blockchain for healthcare engagement to identify the application domains, data-sharing problems, and the challenges encountered to date. Secondly, it critically compared these experiences of with claims about blockchain's potential benefits in healthcare. Thirdly, it developed a theoretical account of challenges that arise in implementing blockchain in healthcare contexts, thus providing a firmer foundation for appraising its future prospects for healthcare. RESULTS Healthcare organisations have actively experimented with blockchain technologies since 2016, and have demonstrated proof of concept for several applications (‘use cases’) primarily concerned with administrative data and to facilitate medical research by enabling algorithmic models to be trained on multiple disparately located sets of patient data in a secure, privacy-preserving manner. Yet blockchain technology is yet to be implemented at scale in healthcare, remaining largely in its infancy. These early experiences of blockchain technologies have demonstrated blockchain’s potential to generate meaningful value to healthcare by facilitating data sharing between organisations in circumstances where computational trust can overcome a lack of social trust that might otherwise prevent valuable cooperation. Although there are genuine prospects of utilising blockchain to bring about positive transformation in healthcare, the successful development of blockchain for healthcare applications face a number of very significant, multi-dimensional and highly complex challenges. Early experience suggests that blockchain is unlikely to rapidly and radically revolutionise healthcare. CONCLUSIONS The successful development of blockchain for healthcare applications face numerous significant, multi-dimensional and complex challenges which will not be easily overcome, suggesting that blockchain technologies are unlikely to revolutionise healthcare in the near future. CLINICALTRIAL

scholarly journals The Health Care Sector’s Experience of Blockchain: A Cross-disciplinary Investigation of Its Real Transformative Potential

10.2196/24109 ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 23 (12) ◽  
pp. e24109
Author(s):  
Karen Yeung
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Data Sharing ◽  
Real World ◽  
Social Trust ◽  
World Health ◽  
Successful Development ◽  
Computational Trust ◽  
Fine Grained ◽  
Blockchain Technology ◽  
Health Care Applications

Background Academic literature highlights blockchain’s potential to transform health care, particularly by seamlessly and securely integrating existing data silos while enabling patients to exercise automated, fine-grained control over access to their electronic health records. However, no serious scholarly attempt has been made to assess how these technologies have in fact been applied to real-world health care contexts. Objective The primary aim of this paper is to assess whether blockchain’s theoretical potential to deliver transformative benefits to health care is likely to become a reality by undertaking a critical investigation of the health care sector’s actual experience of blockchain technologies to date. Methods This mixed methods study entailed a series of iterative, in-depth, theoretically oriented, desk-based investigations and 2 focus group investigations. It builds on the findings of a companion research study documenting real-world engagement with blockchain technologies in health care. Data were sourced from academic and gray literature from multiple disciplinary perspectives concerned with the configuration, design, and functionality of blockchain technologies. The analysis proceeded in 3 stages. First, it undertook a qualitative investigation of observed patterns of blockchain for health care engagement to identify the application domains, data-sharing problems, and the challenges encountered to date. Second, it critically compared these experiences with claims about blockchain’s potential benefits in health care. Third, it developed a theoretical account of challenges that arise in implementing blockchain in health care contexts, thus providing a firmer foundation for appraising its future prospects in health care. Results Health care organizations have actively experimented with blockchain technologies since 2016 and have demonstrated proof of concept for several applications (use cases) primarily concerned with administrative data and to facilitate medical research by enabling algorithmic models to be trained on multiple disparately located sets of patient data in a secure, privacy-preserving manner. However, blockchain technology is yet to be implemented at scale in health care, remaining largely in its infancy. These early experiences have demonstrated blockchain’s potential to generate meaningful value to health care by facilitating data sharing between organizations in circumstances where computational trust can overcome a lack of social trust that might otherwise prevent valuable cooperation. Although there are genuine prospects of using blockchain to bring about positive transformations in health care, the successful development of blockchain for health care applications faces a number of very significant, multidimensional, and highly complex challenges. Early experience suggests that blockchain is unlikely to rapidly and radically revolutionize health care. Conclusions The successful development of blockchain for health care applications faces numerous significant, multidimensional, and complex challenges that will not be easily overcome, suggesting that blockchain technologies are unlikely to revolutionize health care in the near future.

scholarly journals Blockchain for genomics and healthcare: a literature review, current status, classification and open issues

PeerJ ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. e12130
Author(s):  
Beyhan Adanur Dedeturk ◽  
Ahmet Soran ◽  
Burcu Bakir-Gungor
Keyword(s):  
Data Sharing ◽  
Genomic Data ◽  
Current Status ◽  
Omics Data ◽  
Data Types ◽  
Healthcare Applications ◽  
Advantages And Disadvantages ◽  
Blockchain Technology ◽  
Review Current ◽  
Open Issues

The tremendous boost in the next generation sequencing technologies and in the “omics” technologies resulted in the generation of hundreds of gigabytes of data per day. Nowadays, via integrating -omics data with other data types, such as imaging and electronic health record (EHR) data, panomics studies attempt to identify novel and potentially actionable biomarkers for personalized medicine applications. In this respect, for the accurate analysis of -omics data and EHR, there is a need to establish secure and robust pipelines that take the ethical aspects into consideration, regulate privacy and ownership issues, and data sharing. These days, blockchain technology has picked up significant attention in diverse fields, including genomics, since it offers a new solution for these problems from a different perspective. Blockchain is an immutable transaction ledger, which offers secure and distributed system without a central authority. Within the system, each transaction can be expressed with cryptographically signed blocks, and the verification of transactions is performed by the users of the network. In this review, firstly, we aim to highlight the challenges of EHR and genomic data sharing. Secondly, we attempt to answer “Why” or “Why not” the blockchain technology is suitable for genomics and healthcare applications in detail. Thirdly, we elucidate the general blockchain structure based on the Ethereum, which is a more suitable technology for the genomic data sharing platforms. Fourthly, we review current blockchain-based EHR and genomic data sharing platforms, evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of these applications, and classify these applications using different metrics. Finally, we conclude by discussing the open issues and introducing our suggestion on the topic. In summary, to facilitate the diagnosis, monitoring and therapy of diseases with the effective analysis of -omics data with other available data types, through this review, we put forward the possible implications of the blockchain technology to life sciences and healthcare.

scholarly journals A Blockchain-Based Framework for Green Logistics in Supply Chains

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (11) ◽  
pp. 4656 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bing Qing Tan ◽  
Fangfang Wang ◽  
Jia Liu ◽  
Kai Kang ◽  
Federica Costa
Keyword(s):  
Data Sharing ◽  
Theoretical Research ◽  
Business Organizations ◽  
Green Logistics ◽  
Time Data ◽  
Sustainable Operations ◽  
Logistics Industry ◽  
Practical Applications ◽  
Blockchain Technology ◽  
Potential Benefits

The logistics industry around the world has proliferated over recent years as a large number of business organizations have come to recognize the importance of logistics. Cost control used to be emphasized to remain competitive, but recently green logistics has gained attention with the awareness of the integration of economy and society as a whole. Nowadays, green logistics is a useful concept to improve the sustainability of logistics operations, and its related policies and theoretical research have been investigated and explored. However, the practical applications of green logistics are impeded by real-time data sharing, which is common in the logistics industry. Blockchain technology is adopted to address this challenge and enable data sharing among related stakeholders. This paper presents a reference framework for green logistics based on blockchain to reach the sustainable operations of logistics, with the integration of the Internet of Things and big data. Finally, potential benefits and limitations are analyzed when implementing this framework.

Foundations of Blockchain Technology for Industrial and Societal Applications

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shivika Narang ◽  
Praphul Chandra ◽  
Shweta Jain ◽  
Narahari Y
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Data Structure ◽  
Real World ◽  
New Wave ◽  
Distributed Consensus ◽  
Wave Technology ◽  
Blockchain Technology ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Original Application

The blockchain concept forms the backbone of a new wave technology that promises to be deployed extensively in a wide variety of industrial and societal applications. In this article, we present the scientific foundations and technical strengths of this technology. Our emphasis is on blockchains that go beyond the original application to digital currencies such as bitcoin. We focus on the blockchain data structure and its characteristics; distributed consensus and mining; and different types of blockchain architectures. We conclude with a section on applications in industrial and societal settings, elaborating upon a few applications such as land registry ledger, tamper-proof academic transcripts, crowdfunding, and a supply chain B2B platform. We discuss what we believe are the important challenges in deploying the blockchain technology successfully in real-world settings.

Tendencies of development of modern innovative technologies and the digital economy

2018 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 40-47
Author(s):  
S. M. Doguchaeva
Keyword(s):  
Internet Of Things ◽  
Digital Economy ◽  
Digital Transformation ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Successful Development ◽  
Innovative Technologies ◽  
Digital World ◽  
Blockchain Technology ◽  
The Internet Of Things

The era of digital transformation provides the opportunity for leading companies to change priorities - to begin to take care of the support environment using innovative technologies and become a leading creative platform open for innovation. The successful development of the digital world, the blockchain technology, the Internet of things – the mechanism which will change the financial world. 

PP469 From Theory To Practice: Which Value Framework Is Applied For Onco-Hematology Therapies In Italy? A 5-year Retrospective Analysis

2020 ◽  
Vol 36 (S1) ◽  
pp. 37-37
Author(s):  
Americo Cicchetti ◽  
Rossella Di Bidino ◽  
Entela Xoxi ◽  
Irene Luccarini ◽  
Alessia Brigido
Keyword(s):  
Real World ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Grey Literature ◽  
National Level ◽  
Pharmaceutical Products ◽  
European Medicines Agency ◽  
The Real ◽  
R Process ◽  
The One ◽  
The Impact

IntroductionDifferent value frameworks (VFs) have been proposed in order to translate available evidence on risk-benefit profiles of new treatments into Pricing & Reimbursement (P&R) decisions. However limited evidence is available on the impact of their implementation. It's relevant to distinguish among VFs proposed by scientific societies and providers, which usually are applicable to all treatments, and VFs elaborated by regulatory agencies and health technology assessment (HTA), which focused on specific therapeutic areas. Such heterogeneity in VFs has significant implications in terms of value dimension considered and criteria adopted to define or support a price decision.MethodsA literature research was conducted to identify already proposed or adopted VF for onco-hematology treatments. Both scientific and grey literature were investigated. Then, an ad hoc data collection was conducted for multiple myeloma; breast, prostate and urothelial cancer; and Non Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC) therapies. Pharmaceutical products authorized by European Medicines Agency from January 2014 till December 2019 were identified. Primary sources of data were European Public Assessment Reports and P&R decision taken by the Italian Medicines Agency (AIFA) till September 2019.ResultsThe analysis allowed to define a taxonomy to distinguish categories of VF relevant to onco-hematological treatments. We identified the “real-world” VF that emerged given past P&R decisions taken at the Italian level. Data was collected both for clinical and economical outcomes/indicators, as well as decisions taken on innovativeness of therapies. Relevant differences emerge between the real world value framework and the one that should be applied given the normative framework of the Italian Health System.ConclusionsThe value framework that emerged from the analysis addressed issues of specific aspects of onco-hematological treatments which emerged during an ad hoc analysis conducted on treatment authorized in the last 5 years. The perspective adopted to elaborate the VF was the one of an HTA agency responsible for P&R decisions at a national level. Furthermore, comparing a real-world value framework with the one based on the general criteria defined by the national legislation, our analysis allowed identification of the most critical point of the current national P&R process in terms ofsustainability of current and future therapies as advance therapies and agnostic-tumor therapies.

scholarly journals What have we learned about COVID-19 volunteering in the UK? A rapid review of the literature

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Guanlan Mao ◽  
Maria Fernandes-Jesus ◽  
Evangelos Ntontis ◽  
John Drury
Keyword(s):  
Community Engagement ◽  
Social Trust ◽  
Grey Literature ◽  
National Level ◽  
Community Support ◽  
Public Institutions ◽  
Rapid Review ◽  
Mutual Aid ◽  
Review Of The Literature ◽  
The Uk

Abstract Background Community engagement and volunteering are essential for the public response to COVID-19. Since March 2020 a large number of people in the UK have been regularly doing unpaid activities to benefit others besides their close relatives. Although most mutual aid groups emerged from local neighbourhoods and communities, official public institutions also fostered community volunteering, namely through the community champions scheme. By considering a broad definition of COVID-19 volunteering, this article describes a systematic review of the literature focused on one broad question: What have we learned about COVID-19 volunteering both at the UK national level and the more local community level? Methods A rapid review of the literature in peer-reviewed databases and grey literature was applied in our search, following the PRISMA principles. The search was conducted from 10 to 16 of October 2020, and sources were included on the basis of having been published between January and October 2020, focusing on COVID-19 and addressing community groups, volunteering groups, volunteers, or community champions in the UK. Results After initial screening, a total of 40 relevant sources were identified. From these, 27 were considered eligible. Findings suggest that food shopping and emotional support were the most common activities, but there were diverse models of organisation and coordination in COVID-19 volunteering. Additionally, community support groups seem to be adjusting their activities and scope of action to current needs and challenges. Volunteers were mostly women, middle-class, highly educated, and working-age people. Social networks and connections, local knowledge, and social trust were key dimensions associated with community organising and volunteering. Furthermore, despite the efforts of a few official public institutions and councils, there has been limited community engagement and collaboration with volunteering groups and other community-based organisations. Conclusions We identified important factors for fostering community engagement and COVID-19 volunteering as well as gaps in the current literature. We suggest that future research should be directed towards deepening knowledge on sustaining community engagement, collaboration and community participation over time, during and beyond this pandemic.

scholarly journals Blockchain Technology in the Food Industry: A Review of Potentials, Challenges and Future Research Directions

Logistics ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 27
Author(s):  
Abderahman Rejeb ◽  
John G. Keogh ◽  
Suhaiza Zailani ◽  
Horst Treiblmaier ◽  
Karim Rejeb
Keyword(s):  
Food Industry ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Journal Articles ◽  
Comprehensive Overview ◽  
Illicit Trade ◽  
Food Supply Chains ◽  
Blockchain Technology ◽  
Potential Benefits ◽  
Future Research Directions ◽  
Business Customers

Blockchain technology has emerged as a promising technology with far-reaching implications for the food industry. The combination of immutability, enhanced visibility, transparency and data integrity provides numerous benefits that improve trust in extended food supply chains (FSCs). Blockchain can enhance traceability, enable more efficient recall and aids in risk reduction of counterfeits and other forms of illicit trade. Moreover, blockchain can enhance the integrity of credence claims such as sustainably sourced, organic or faith-based claims such as kosher or halal by integrating the authoritative source of the claim (e.g., the certification body or certification owner) into the blockchain to verify the claim integrity and reassure business customers and end consumers. Despite the promises and market hype, a comprehensive overview of the potential benefits and challenges of blockchain in FSCs is still missing. To bridge this knowledge gap, we present the findings from a systematic review and bibliometric analysis of sixty-one (61) journal articles and synthesize existing research. The main benefits of blockchain technology in FCSs are improved food traceability, enhanced collaboration, operational efficiencies and streamlined food trading processes. Potential challenges include technical, organizational and regulatory issues. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of our research and present several ideas for future research.

Regulatory frameworks for clinical trial data sharing during the Pandemic and beyond: A scoping review (Preprint)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nachiket Gudi ◽  
Prashanthi Kamath ◽  
Trishnika Chakraborty ◽  
Anil G. Jacob ◽  
Shradha Parsekar ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Clinical Trial ◽  
Data Sharing ◽  
Scoping Review ◽  
Data Extraction ◽  
Grey Literature ◽  
Clinical Trial Data ◽  
Trial Data ◽  
Policy Documents ◽  
Regulatory Documents ◽  
Share Data

BACKGROUND Data sharing from clinical trials is well recognized and has widely gained recognition amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The competing interests of powerful stakeholders expressed through data exclusivity practices make clinical trial data sharing a complex phenomenon. The wider acceptance of data sharing practices in the absence of mandated policy creates uncertainty among trial investigators to count for risks vs benefit from sharing trial data. Data sharing becomes further complex as the trial data sharing is governed by the regional policies. This drew our attention to explore policies for informed data sharing. OBJECTIVE This scoping review aimed to map the existing literature around the regulatory documents that guide trial investigators to share clinical trial data. METHODS We followed a Joanna Briggs Institute scoping review approach and have reported the article according to the PRISMA extension for Scoping reviews (PRISMA-ScR). In addition to the use of the electronic databases, a targeted website search was performed to access relevant grey literature. The articles were screened at the title-abstract and the full text stages based on the selection criteria. All the included articles for data extraction were in English language. Data extraction was done independently using a pre-tested data extraction sheet. Included literature focused on clinical trial data sharing policies, guidelines, or SOPs. A narrative synthesis approach was used to summarize the findings. RESULTS This scoping review identified four articles and 13 policy documents from the grey literature. A majority of the clinical trial agencies require an agreement for data sharing between the data requestor/organization and trial agency. None of the policy documents mandates informed consent for data sharing. The time interval to share data underlying results, varies from six to 18 months from the time of trial publication. Depending upon trial data, policies follow both controlled and open access models. Regulatory documents identified in both scientific and grey literature emphasized on good research principles of protection of privacy of participant data and data anonymization through data sharing agreement between the data requester and trial agency. Need for an informed consent and cost of data sharing, timeline to share data, incentives, or reward to promote data sharing and capacity building for data sharing have remained grey areas in these policy documents. CONCLUSIONS This paper acknowledges the vital role of clinical data sharing from a public health perspective. We found that given the challenges around clinical trial data sharing, developing a feasible mechanism for data sharing is important. We suggest that standardizing data sharing processes by framing a concise policy with key elements of data sharing mechanisms could be easier to practice rather than a rigid and comprehensive data sharing policy. CLINICALTRIAL This scoping review protocol has not been registered and published.

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