Something that seems to be the norm is taking blockchain onto any new project. How does using the blockchain make this platform any more secure? I understand data in the system is only accessible via individuals with contracts but what stops a doctor or health physician from physically copying this data by hand, then imputing it into their own internal datastore? Bound by HIPAA they might be, it doesn't take much for them to break HIPAA in the interest of convenience knowing all to well how unlikely it is they'll be caught anytime soon. Furthermore, I've noticed analytics and data processing is a growing field within the healthcare space. What do you guys plan to do to incentise analytics teams from adopting this new platform? Each hospital, insurance company, client, all seem to have their system which creates a slew of process for an analytics team. What would make a team choose this platform, seemingly yet another caveat in the mix?
Several questions in here... I'll try to answer each of them.
First, we didn't incorporate blockchain because all the cool kids were doing it. We incorporated blockchain because it allowed us to create an immutable and audible chain of custody for every data element in the platform - knowing exactly where a piece of data has been, for how long, and how it has been used or modified or shared over time.
Second, blockchain by itself doesn't do anything to make this platform secure. In fact, traditional blockchain is open and transparent, so it is, by definition, not secure. The BurstIQ platform uses a permissioned blockchain structure with trusted nodes to verify data elements, and data security in several forms at all levels of the platform. The white paper goes into pretty good detail on this.
Third, nothing stops a doctor from physically copying data by hand and inputting it into their own datastore... other than the fact that they could lose their license and be hit with a multi-million dollar fine. Even if they did do it, it would be logistically impossible for them to manually transfer the volume of data they'd need to do anything meaningful, like analytics, cohort research, or even stealing identities. Manual data breaches like that aren't really a significant risk, but large scale data breaches are - and those are exactly what the platform is designed to prevent.
Fourth, this platform is designed for exactly the analytics scenario you present. Without BurstIQ, in order for analytics companies to gain insights across the industry, they have to do 1:1 integrations with every hospital, every insurance company, every other company that manages health data. Each of those integrations can be months of work, and then the data has to be scrubbed and normalized so you can compare apples to apples. All that work before the real analytics can even start. The BurstIQ platform is designed to pull all those data sources together, so that analytics companies can access all the data they need through a single API. And as more data is added to the platform, you get access to those new data sets automatically (subject to people granting permission, obviously) - no new integrations required.