Aiming for all-encompassing health record

One recipient of the more than $1 billion in venture funding that has been injected into blockchain-related startups over the past year or so is Factom, a blockchain vendor in Austin, Texas, that recently entered into a deal with cloud health record services provider HealthNautica.

Factom uses the existing bitcoin blockchain, the world's largest with about 5,300 nodes, or servers, as well as linking to conventional enterprise networks.

Under the deal with HealthNautica -- which is still in development as Factom works on building its bandwidth capabilities, according to company executives -- Factom's blockchain technology will verify and time-stamp health records and claims for HealthNautica's physician and hospital clients.

Factom founder Paul Snow asserted that blockchain can enable for the first time the long sought longitudinal health record that contains every episode of care from childhood to old age in every location healthcare was delivered. This capability would radically reduce medical errors and improve care quality as well as empower individuals to have full control over their own health records, he said.

"There's no doubt that blockchain can save lives by ensuring that all the available health information has been evaluated in a quick and efficient fashion," Snow said.

http://searchhealthit.techtarget.com/news/450303012/Blockchain-in-healthcare-getting-a-lot-of-attention