IBM, Aetna, Anthem & Others Announce Collab to Create a Blockchain Network

Aetna, Anthem, Healthcare Service Corporation, PNC Bank and IBM today announced a massive collaboration to design and create a network using blockchain technology to improve transparency and interoperability in the healthcare industry.

The companies want the blockchain network to allow health systems to build, share and deploy solutions that drive digital transformation.

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Applying blockchain technology could reduce administrative errors and friction, making electronic health information exchanges more efficient. Increased transparency and interoperability could lead to a reduction of unnecessary costs and enhanced patient care.

According to the announcement, the companies plan to use blockchain to address many challenges in the healthcare industry.

The collaboration intends the technology to be used to promote efficient claims and payment processing, to enable secure and frictionless healthcare information exchanges and to maintain current and accurate provider directories.

“Through the application of blockchain technology, we’ll work to improve data accuracy for providers, regulators and other stakeholders, and give our members more control over their own data,” said Claus Jensen, chief technology officer at Aetna, a part of CVS Health.

The application of blockchain can enable consumer trust. With the technology, a faster, safer and more secure way to exchange medical information could transform the consumer healthcare experience, Rajeev Ronanki, chief digital officer of Anthem, said.

Aside from increased transparency and interoperability, the implementation of such technology could potentially lead to less data breaches and leaking of patient health information.

Other health organizations, healthcare providers, startups and technology companies will be added to the network in the upcoming months.

While the collaboration was just only announced, this could be a big next step for a technology that has thus far failed to produce scalable use cases.

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