Blockchain technology has a place in any commercial network that is strongly motivated to avoid allowing a single central party to coordinate and approve transactions within the network. While the technicality of blockchain has a steep learning curve, there is tremendous potential in blockchain’s application across the healthcare space, well beyond the financial industry. While the perfect application of blockchain seems futuristic, some pilot projects are ongoing. Here are the top trends of blockchain usage in healthcare in 2020.

Blockchain technology will have a bigger role to play in supporting the digitisation of supply chains, as well as increasing transparency and efficiency. Healthcare organizations, from manufacturers to retailers, can trace products through supply chains to ensure authenticity or flag potentially damaging in-transit events, such as signs of tampering, extreme environmental conditions, or careless handling. If a manufacturer identifies a quality issue with a device or drug, blockchain can help vendors expedite recalls by quickly determining the location of any inventory across the supply chain that needs to be kept out of circulation.

The FDA’s Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA) is intended to increase regulatory oversight of counterfeit, stolen, contaminated, or otherwise harmful drugs. Some pilot projects under the DSCSA test how blockchain can secure information sharing across healthcare enterprises. For example, KPMG, IBM, Merck, and Walmart have been chosen for a pilot program that will explore using blockchain technology to improve the security of prescription drug supply and distribution. More companies started implementing blockchain technology in response to DSCSA. Genentech, a subdivision of the Roche Group, Pfizer, McKesson, and AmerisourceBergen are working with the blockchain start-up MediLedger Project, which is in the process of creating a platform that allows manufacturers to track their products along with secure supply chain data, and demonstrate adherence to the DSCSA.

IT innovation such as artificial intelligence (AI), hybrid cloud solutions, and blockchain implementations will be considered as supplemental technologies that can speed-up the adoption of new technologies. The new hybrid cloud-at-customer solutions provide highly scalable public cloud applications and services while keeping personal healthcare data behind enterprise firewalls to conform to regulatory requirements. The use of AI goes beyond traditional analytics, as it aggregates and then extracts insights by recognizing patterns and correlations across large volumes of data that are stored on hybrid clouds and safely organized on blockchain platforms. By being integrated into many Internet of Things (IoT)-connected devices and wearables, blockchain has the potential to uncover demographic trends, accelerate R&D in the healthcare industry, and ultimately improve patient outcomes in the near future.

Emerging economies are very pro-blockchain and will increase investment in 2020. More manufacturing-oriented countries, particularly in Asia, stand to benefit from the implementation of blockchain. The Chinese government has positioned itself to dominate the blockchain space with the most patents related to blockchain. The Chinese State Council included blockchain development in the nation’s 13th Five-Year Plan. In 2019, president of China Xi Jinping said blockchain will play a major role in building China’s strength in cyberspace, developing the digital economy, and advancing economic and social development. In addition, more countries will establish blockchain-based healthcare systems. Estonia has become the first country to use blockchain for healthcare on a national scale.

Following Estonia, in 2018, the UAE set out an ambitious plan to use blockchain technology to improve different aspects of the lives of its citizens, such as banking, transportation, and healthcare. The initiative set the country on a path to become a fully functional blockchain-based government by 2021. The healthcare platform provides a data-sharing solution that enables health professionals, including doctors, pharmacists, technicians, and local licensing health authorities, to save and share the assessment information.

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The development and implementation of single-use, or disposable, medical devices is becoming more widespread. GlobalData has identified that disposable devices are being increasingly used at the expense of reusable counterparts across most markets and therapy areas. 

One of the major reasons for this shift has been to prevent the spread of infectious diseases and to reduce the logistics required to sterilise reusable equipment. However, not everyone is embracing this shift toward single-use products, for reasons including environmental concerns, specifically the minimisation of waste production, and the generally cheaper costs associated with reusable devices. 

In many countries around the world, medical centres are combining the lower per-unit prices of single-use devices with the reduced costs associated with device reuse by reusing single-use devices. A recent study published in BMC Public Health by Wang and Wu found that in China, the reprocessing and reuse of single-use medical devices in hospitals is extensive despite the practice being banned in the country. 

The study authors conducted a cross-sectional analysis based on the results of a national survey conducted in 2015. Before this study, the practice of reprocessing and reusing single-use devices was not well understood. The study involved reviewing responses from 540 participants across the country in different fields of practice. The results of the study revealed positive attitudes towards the reprocessing and reuse of single-use devices by Chinese healthcare professionals. 

Surprisingly, despite such positive attitudes toward this practice, many participants doubted the hygienic and functional safety of reprocessed single-use devices. Furthermore, these respondents indicated that more training should be implemented towards reprocessing and reusing single-use devices. 

This practice is not isolated to countries such as China. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that in the US, the reuse rate of single-use devices could occur in 20–30% of hospitals for at least one type of single-use device. The FDA has even created regulations for the reuse of single-use devices.

This includes regulatory requirements that medical centres must follow, such as the stipulation that the reused device must comply with the same regulatory requirements of the device in its originally manufactured form. If medical centres do not follow these FDA guidelines, they are required to stop reprocessing single-use devices. 

While the choice to reprocess and reuse single-use devices might be a pragmatic decision in emerging economies or medical centres that have restrictive budgets, the lack of research conducted into the safety of this practice will prevent policymakers from officially promoting this practice. Future studies will be required to clearly define the risks and benefits associated with reusing single-use devices.

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