Transforming The Healthcare Industry with Blockchain

Special guest, Anca Petre, COO of 23 Consulting joins neXt Curve to discuss how the healthcare and pharmaceutical industries are applying Blockchain technologies to create new value and reshape their industry model. What is the Blockchain promise and what is possible versus hype?

On August 13th, 2018, neXCurve’s Leonard Lee hosted a webcast discussion with Anca Petre of 23 Consulting. Ms. Petre is one of the leading experts on Blockchain in the healthcare and pharmaceutical industries. Anca joined us to share her point of view on the viable applications of Blockchain in the healthcare and pharmaceutical industries that will make a difference.

The Problems to be Solved in Healthcare

Blockchain brings great possibilities to enable the reinvention of the healthcare and pharmaceutical industries, but what are the types of problems that Blockchain can solve?  Anca cited four archetypical use cases in which Blockchain has demonstrated transformative utility in addressing some of the industry pain points such as medical records management, cold chain management among others:

  • Asset Transfer – “Tokenize” assets and transfer them between the members of a network
  • Reliable and Trustworthy Information – Register critical information that can lead to litigation
  • Automated Processes – Automate critical processes that require guaranteed execution
  • Data Flows – Register and share data in a network upon consensus

Blockchain – New Tech, New Possibilities, New Solutions

With all the attention today on Bitcoin, Blockchain, ICOs a tremendous amount of money from around the world has been pumped into a wide range of cryptocurrencies and Blockchain startups aspiring to upturn industries.

Anca stated that only 5 percent of the startup activities and investments are happening in the healthcare industry with the financial industry sucking up most of the investment attention, which is not surprising given the crypto craze since Bitcoin peaked in mid-December of 2017.

Today, the Blockchain solution focus in the healthcare and pharmaceutical industries has been on data with the goal of breaking medical records and clinical research data out of their current silos while enabling enhanced controls that improve the management and protection of a patient’s personal data.

Barriers & Emerging Enablers for Healthcare Reinvention

90 percent of early-phase Blockchain ventures will fail.  Very few will have the transformative impact on their target industry that they aspire to.  Sad but true because we have been here before with the Dotcom craze.

Anca cited the biggest challenge facing Blockchain projects is a pervasive lack of awareness and understanding of Blockchain itself.  Though it is simple in concept – distributed ledger – how the technology works and enables new functional possibilities is still difficult for most business leaders to understand.  We see plenty of evidence of this misunderstanding is we read or watch industry news.

Anca also cited the need for applying Blockchain in a fit-for-purpose way, which requires an effective understanding of Blockchain technology and functional application patterns (a.k.a. use cases).  She notes that projects will find that Blockchain will optimal for special precision situations and will likely not be the key technology or the only technology for a healthcare industry solution.

The healthcare industry is a highly regulated one globally.  The industry as a whole is continuing to ride the learning curve on Blockchain.  As the healthcare industry understand more about how Blockchain technology can be applied to address industry pain points there will likely be regulatory changes that come about to capitalize on the benefits of Blockchain while managing the risks associated with its use.  These changes will happen through consortia.  For this reason, it is important for any Blockchain project in the healthcare industry to be tuned into the regulatory environment of today and its evolution in the future.

Implications for Business Leaders

Business leaders need to recognize that there are no Blockchain experts.  Most Blockchain projects are pursuing first-of-a-kind efforts to realize the promise of Blockchain in their industry.  The healthcare and pharmaceutical industries are not exceptions.  The vast majority of us are learning as we go.  Be ready to ideate and pilot your Blockchain solutions and learn from your experiments.

Business leaders also should recognize that successful Blockchain solutions will require an ecosystem of participants to support the new industrial process model it enables, the technical infrastructure and the development of applications.  In the healthcare and pharmaceutical industries in particular, it is important to engage with consortiums to make informed decisions and become aware of current and evolving regulatory standards and environment.


You can listen to the audio replay of our Transforming Healthcare with Blockchain webcast by playing the media below or downloading the Podcast available on iTunes.  Subscribe to our Podcast channel and keep up to date on the latest insights from neXt Curve.

Audio replay of the Transforming The Healthcare Industry with Blockchain webcast


Presentation Materials
neXt Curve Transforming Healthcare with Blockchain (PDF)

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by

Leonard Lee

Managing Director, neXCurve

August 13, 2018

© 2018 neXt Curve. All rights reserved.

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