Blockchain in the social sphere of Smart Cities
The development of smart cities is based on the use of new technologies. One of these promising technologies is Blockchain. The use of Blockchain gives great opportunities for solving a complex of problems related to: ensuring energy efficiency in buildings, the introduction of sustainable energy technologies for megacities, the formation of eco friendly settlements, etc. The article presents the structure of the areas of pharmaceuticals and health care, where the Blockchain is used. The strategies are offered to reduce labour and energy costs for processing medical information, accelerating the creation of new treatment technologies and the creation of medicines, their implementation in practical health care.
The blockchain technology and its properties
One of the breakthrough technologies of the digital economy, which can lead to fundamental changes in various industries and increase their efficiency, is Blockchain technology. The introduction of Blockchain in the socially oriented sphere will allow providing a digital society with all the necessary conditions and technological mechanisms, eliminating intermediaries, and ensuring the authenticity of operations. This makes it possible to form digital images (avatars) on the Blockchain platform, to record all transactions. The main feature of Blockchain is that the data entered into the system once cannot be changed by anyone, the data is repeatedly duplicated. Information is stored on a distributed network created and maintained by all participants. These data are always available, they cannot be faked, the databases are resistant to hacker attacks. Blockchain can solve problems in real time, openly and transparently.
Prospects for using blockchain in healthcare
Currently in the world a lot of attention is paid to health care. This is one of the priorities in the social sphere. In health care, it is planned to modernize information support in the near future through the creation and operation of information systems of medical and pharmaceutical organizations. There are different points of view about the use of Blockchain in health care. The use of the Blockchain technology means the rejection of paper carriers in favor of digital, preservation of patient information confidentiality, reduction of the number of mediators between the doctor and the patient, creation of medical products for each patient. The digital case history will allow the doctor to trace all stages of the patient’s treatment. It will be impossible to make any unauthorized changes in order to adjust the patient’s health status indicators. The implementation of Blockchain in health care will allow to determine the following list of positive effects:
High-speed access to the necessary information from any region of the country Fast data processing. Operational exchange of experience in treating diseases, which will lead to an increase in the qualifications of doctors.
Display of the real work of the doctor. There is a possibility of effective remote control over his actions.
Report on prescription pharmaceuticals. This is important for budget planning and for preparing sectoral and regional balances.
Simplify the assessment of the quality of medical care, which will positively affect the efficiency of the work of medical personnel.
Translation of the document circulation of healthcare organizations onto Blockchain. This will increase the speed of data processing, provide transparency and the impossibility of losing, damaging or falsifying documents, since the block created once cannot be changed, it cannot be removed from the network. It will be possible for each patient to store a copy of the personal medical data base, as well as access it using a unified protocol.
Timely distribution of laws, orders, etc., relevant medical news.
Ensuring confidentiality of case histories.
A potential employer, an insurance company, and other interested parties will be able to access the professional data of the health worker and confirm what competencies they have.
Reducing the burden on the doctor. Electronic case management, in contrast to paper carriers, requires less time and effort.
Go to digital contracts and paperless transactions, which will significantly reduce the cost of medical care.
Ensure transparency of financial flows of health facilities, reduce the number of subjects of financial relations.
Create a register of medical information about patients across the country by disease groups, which will facilitate and accelerate health research; to identify more effective and high-quality methods of treatment, to introduce them into practical health care; speed up and reduce the cost of developing new drugs.
Opportunities for using blockchain in pharmaceuticals
The use of Blockchain in the pharmaceutical industry has broad prospects. Some pharmaceutical companies (Amgen, Sanofi, etc.) propose to apply the blockchain technology to document tests of new drugs. This will create a database of each new drug, as well as those who have expressed their desire to participate in such tests. A universal database of information storage will allow us to document, save and update all data, the effectiveness of the tested drugs, and take into account their side effects, which will speed up the process of creating new drugs. Another implementation direction for Blockchain is connected with the labeling of drugs with a special chip for protection against fakes. Such a Blockchain chip will be able to distinguish a real cure from a fake or counterfeit one. The Blockchain technology will be used at all stages of the movement of the drug from the manufacturer to the patient. In the Blockchain document, if the supplier of drugs or the pharmacy decided to make changes to the record, then a new document will be automatically created, as a continuation of the main one, but already with corrections. Each block contains a timestamp and a link to the previous block. However, it cannot be moved by changing the chronological order. It is transparent, objective and cannot be changed. It is important to emphasize that the task of effective control is solved without a centralized regulator, which could change and transfer data at its own discretion. This makes the process cheaper and the information more reliable. The positive effects of the Blockchain technology implementation in pharmaceuticals are the following:
It is possible to translate all document circulation of pharmaceutical organizations into a Blockchain.
Blokchain make ensure that information cannot be falsified.
A single register of electronic recipes will be created.
Savings will be achieved by not taking into account prescription drugs on paper.
Ensure transparency of financial flows in healthcare, especially in its public sector.
Reduce the state budget spending on quality control of medicines. These costs will decrease in absolute terms due to the use of Blockchain.
