This is an interesting discussion with David Evans, Richard McDonald, and Terry Coatta. David Evans is the chief technology officer (CTO) of Toronto-based HealthChain, Richard McDonald is a recently retired IBM Distinguished Engineer, and Terry Coatta is the CTO of Vancouver-based Marine Learning Systems.

The discussion is focused on the work David Evans is doing with HealthChain:

HealthChain has developed Canada’s first electronic prescribing and medication management solution built on blockchain. HealthChain uses a public ledger and automated prescribing rules to increase the accuracy, security, and safety of prescribing and dispensing medications. [1]

HealthChain is focusing on one important aspect of electronic medical records (EMRs): medications. The list of medications associated with a patient can generally grow longer as a patient ages or if a patient is undergoing treatment. Historically, healthcare organizations would take ownership of the list of medications and incorporate it into the patient’s EMR. However, there is a problem with this approach: if a patient needs to visit a physician associated with a different healthcare organization, the patient is forced to recite their list of medications and medical history. Thus, the problem with the current EMR environment is that the data is owned by some entity affiliated with a healthcare organization.

HealthChain is reversing this approach and saying the patient owns the data. The patient’s data is incorporated into a blockchain, and the patient can be given the ability to have ownership of the data and allow transfer of the data to another healthcare organization. The patient-centric model of a blockchain-based EMR could potentially reduce the amount of errors that occur when a patient visits a different healthcare organization and has to recall key components of their EMR. This can resolve issues where a patient’s illness or injury can make recalling medical information impossible.