One of the legacies of the Obama Presidency is the popularity of Electronic Health Record (EHR) systems, which were advertised to medical institutions as the solution to all their record-keeping problems. Although the system offers many advantages, it also has shortcomings that have recently become too apparent to ignore.
The major concern of these EHR systems is the portability, security and privacy of patient’s health data. However, Patientory, a decentralized app (dApp) running on blockchain technology, offers a viable solution to the frailties of the current EHR system.
The EHR system and its uses
An Electronic Health Record is a digital record of a patient’s visits to healthcare facilities, progress notes, demographic data, diagnosis, medication, and medical test reports. The main aim of the EHR system is to improve the quality of patient care. Also, on a lighter note, a computerized record is easier understood than a physician’s handwriting.
An EHR reduces the administrative burden, saves space, improves the productivity of healthcare personnel, and provides a financial benefit. Some EHR systems have a patient portal for patients to access their historical health data.
Drawbacks of the EHR system
The current EHR system currently creates centralized siloed walled gardens. Not only are these systems susceptible to technical glitches, hacks, and malicious attacks from cybercriminals and other unscrupulous characters, it is not owned by the patient.
Despite data backups, The Family Medicine Residency of Idaho (FMRI) lost electronic health records of about 12,000 patients due to a power outage.Such a loss is a waste of several hours of data collection and can compromise the quality of patient care. Cybercriminals can introduce malware into the EHR system and steal patients’ health data. They can use this data to blackmail people, exploit medical conditions for personal gain, and other questionable activities. Also, the EHR system inhibits patient access to their data as a security measure, which does not go a long way to secure the system.
Other significant drawbacks of the EHR system are the user interface and interoperability problems. A medical record is of no use if the clinic treating the patient is unable to retrieve it. Hospitals use different EHR systems, which cannot communicate with themselves. This interactive issue is another reason why patients do not get access to their health records. In addition to this, users also struggle to interact with the interface, causing time delays and errors in data entry.
Patientory – The doctor to the medical system’s illness
Patientory is a decentralized app (dApp) and platform which makes up the PTOYMatrix blockchain network to provide complete healthcare solutions to patients. A blockchain is an open and distributed network of computers secured by a complex mathematical problem solved by cryptography. Every transaction on a blockchain is usually date and time-stamped, and no one without access to a block can view it. Every transaction on the network is also verified and replicated in every node, thus ensuring data security.
Since it uses an impregnable technology, the Patientory blockchain network can store patient data without any threat to safety. Decentralized apps or dApps are not regulated by any single entity but are accessible to all dealing parties. Thus, a single healthcare provider does not control any data stored on the Patientory network blockchain. Instead, the patient and other healthcare providers can easily and securely access it.
Conclusion
Your data, whether demographic, academic, professional, or health, is private. Others cannot be privy to this information without your approval. While the EHR system makes record-keeping more efficient, it does not guarantee the security of your information.
The Patientory dApp can securely store your health data and allow you to share it with the healthcare providers you trust. Currently, the app serves the US healthcare system, but it is expanding to be a global healthcare system solution.
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