Over the past decade personal health data has been, and still continues to be collected by various “touch points” throughout a persons journey to lead a healthy life. When your sick, you see the doctor. That visit is recorded into a medical record and only (easily) accessed by that health network. It becomes difficult for a patient or another doctor to get visibility into those records. Often it requires written consent and a fax machine to successfully share the relevant health data.

Now, we live in a world where other aspects of our health are being tracked on a more granular level. Internet ‘connected’ fitness devices are gathering information across numerous third party applications more than ever. Again, even in 2018, there is no easy way to share this important data being collected. As more internet connected devices light up across the landscape of “smart” gyms, medical clinics and other fitness related activity tracking devices. There needs to be a better way to securely bring all that data to a single source of truth.

Why is this so important?

It’s much more than convenient access to health data. The effects of poor and mismanaged personal data can lead to several critical issues…

Cyber Threats:

Healthcare is an industry with the most frequently targeted cyber attacks, with 164 threats detected per 1,000 host devices, according to a recent Vectra Networks study. “The data shows that healthcare is consistently targeted and attackers can easily evade perimeter defenses,” the Vectra Networks report states.

Vectra notes that the healthcare industry has seen a significant increase in the number of Internet-connected devices due to the expanding footprint of IoT devices in hospitals. “These unsecured devices are easy targets for cyber-criminals,” the report states.

A recent Ponemon Institute survey of 242 medical device manufacturers and 262 healthcare delivery organizations (HDOs) found that 67 percent of manufacturers and 56 percent of HDOs believe an attack on a medical device built by or in use by their organizations is likely within the next 12 months.

According to FortiGuard Labs, almost half of the top 10 threats were triggered by botnets, some of which leveraged compromised IoT devices. IoT exploits now comprise two of the top 10 application vulnerability exploits in healthcare. New attacks span malware families and swarm to target multiple attack vectors simultaneously, making them more difficult to prevent. This trend towards multiple, simultaneous attacks is likely to spread to IoMT devices as well.

Healthcare data breaches are devastating for any healthcare organization, and the subsequent recovery costs are very expensive. Implementing new tools to aid in prevention and detection measures are not cheap, but not taking necessary steps to head off potential issues will likely result in more expensive recovery costs and data privacy concerns.

The Ponemon study shows that stolen healthcare records cost the most. As of 2017, a single compromised record can cost an organization up to $380 each. Just to put that into perspective, back in 2016, Banner Health was attacked and over 3.7 million patient records were stolen. At $380 a piece, that’s a serious problem.

Duplicate Information:

Duplicate patient records can cost organizations $96 each and the cost of repeated tests or delayed treatments caused by duplicate records can add another $1,100 per patient.

The overall impact of the duplicate records problem isn't just financial. More than 100,000 people die annually because of patient information mismatches.

Missing or incorrect information in duplicate medical records can cause severe injuries, illness, insurance claim issues and even death. Duplicate medical records and data overlap also tends to effect reimbursement, administrative inefficiencies, resource drains, liability concerns, and perhaps most significantly, compromised care delivery and threats to patient safety.

Many of these fatalities are the result of duplicate patient records & data mismatches. As the use of EHR/EMR has grown over the past decade, so has the problem of integrating patient records across different IT systems.

These issues noted above tend to further effect the increase in administrative inefficiencies & resource drain. The ripple effect creates a healthcare system that lacks interoperability, security and leads to higher costs to deliver the worst service. These are all symptoms of an underlying illness across the health systems of the world. The ‘centralized’ architecture of these fragmented data silos are like a virus. It has spread and taken up residence in the same house that holds all of our health data. It has been a weight on the industry for decades. In order to resolve these issues and mitigate cyber security threats, I think it’s time to put the control back into the hands of the people.

All of us hold a complex and unique biological database. Collecting that data and extrapolating meaningful insight will also pave the way for advanced precision medicine and usher in a world of personalized healthcare.

I believe this centralized “walled garden” of an architecture is a poor methodology that has lead to overwhelming cyber attacks, wasted spending and inefficiencies that drive up the cost of healthcare & put peoples data at risk.

So, How Does Blockchain Technology Fit in This Picture?

Ok. So, WTF is a Blockchain anyway?

A Blockchain is a digital ledger in which transactions made in digital tokens or or cryptocurrency are recorded chronologically and publicly. These records are highly encrypted and are immutable. This innovation has created a perfect solution to store a persons health records.

Introducing The “Digital Twin” Health Profile

Imagine you didn’t even have to think about it. Systems & devices that you interact with begin pulling data and syncing it with your personalized digital health profile. From your medical records and genetic data all the way to fitness & nutrition information. This data is now in control by you! You decide which clinical trials to participate in. You can permission which doctors or companies want to look at your data. This shift will help usher in a new personalized healthcare ecosystem.

Rewards & Incentives to Drive Healthy Behaviors

Helix3 is a blockchain startup working on solving these problems. The mission is to enable people to live healthier lives through secure & meaningful data. So, it’s not enough to just store & manage health data with the platform. When nearly half (45 percent) of all Americans suffer from at least one chronic disease. More than two-thirds of all deaths are caused by one or more of five chronic diseases: heart disease, cancer, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and diabetes.

We must incorporate a way to drive real results. In order to provide a meaningful & engaging product, the Helix3 platform has baked in a dynamic rewards system that allows users to earn digital (HLX) tokens for completing challenges sponsored by your doctor, insurer, local gym and many others in your personal health ecosystem. The HLX tokens can be redeemed for health related products & services in the Helix3 marketplace.

Our goal is to drive a fundamental change to empower the patient to take control of their health through meaningful data. At the same time, providers & insurers will be able to streamline their process to generate a more efficient, transparent and personalized value-driven healthcare system for the future.

Check out the project >>> https://helix3.co

JOIN our Telegram >>> https://t.me/helix3group

Apply for the whitelist >>> https://helix3-io.typeform.com/to/xua7j3 Follow us on Twitter >>> https://twitter.com/helix3_health

Healthcare + Blockchain was originally published in Helix3 on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.