There are major differences between the healthcare and financial industries, the two ecosystems have a lot of commonalities. Both center with transactions of highly protected information, involve a variety of stakeholders, tackle daily privacy and security concerns and risks, and operate in a highly regulated environment.
Blockchain discussions are most relatable when they are grounded in a use case where this type of distributed ledger technology can provide a clear solution to recognize a problem or a gap in the industry. In fintech and beyond, the opportunities for its use in solving gaps in identity management, improving inefficiencies in supply chains and streamlining cross-stakeholder collaboration are many. For all of these, healthcare too has opportunities to find value in blockchain technology solutions, and we are beginning to see real-world applications enter production.
Emerging solutions in healthcare and fintech, blockchain is often a component of the solution, not the star of the product. With this mindset, the focus needs to be on creating a solution to a real problem, not selling the technology behind that solution. Of the solutions discussed, use cases in production highlight the supporting role of blockchain such as biometrics to verify identities and create tamperproof tracking information, and artificial intelligence algorithms to detect fraud and automate processes.