NFTs in Healthcare - Revolutionize Reach With a Vertical Growth Model

While we have made rapid progress in implementing digital health systems and gained a great deal of success in the last decade, we have also encountered numerous limitations associated with these systems that are still not fully resolved. One of the biggest roadblocks in this is handling health data and making it truly interoperable. With the recent advancements in blockchain-based technologies, it is time to assess how they can contribute to solving some of these data-related challenges in digital implementations that exist today.

The NFT (Non-Fungible Token) is a cryptographic token that exists on a blockchain and cannot be duplicated. NFTs are powered by smart contracts which handle the transferability and verify the ownership. Tokenizing tangible real-world assets makes buying, selling, and trading them more efficient while reducing the likelihood of fraud.

Currently, NFTs are having a big-bang moment in the art market and have completely revolutionized the way art is valued and traded, however, NFTs have a much greater potential than just trading art and collectibles.

NFT's as a Service, are expected to be the next big thing in the market where users can directly get access to a unique service token that can be tracked on the blockchain and reduce the chance of fraud and misuse of the data. With NFTs In Healthcare as a service, people can gain easy and secure access to their own health records through blockchain ledgers and get services that can help them control and improve their healthcare. Today, the healthcare industry's data problem includes accessing, processing, and getting insights from health data. A medical professional may not always be able to readily access patient data they need at the time of treatment due to the difficulty of processing unstructured data manually, resulting in a lack of relevant insights to make accurate diagnoses.

Health Data minted as an NFT comes with inherent tracking, users can easily see who else gets access to their health data. NFTs offer a great potential solution to protect unstructured health data distributed across multiple Electronic Health Record (EHR) systems. Each year, over 1.2 billion clinical documents are produced in the U.S., and this number is growing at a rate of 48% per year. Unfortunately, 80% of that healthcare data is trapped in these EHRs and is not being used to their full potential. One of the key issues is that the multitude of health data is largely unused in the provision of care.

With these data available in NFTs, patients can have a greater level of control over their own data and can decide how they want to utilize their data for care improvement while also tracking the use of their data

On the other hand, in this digital health era, personal health sensors and apps provide patients with personalized data to help them manage and take control of their health. The norm, however, remains that sensitive data is handled by the many private companies providing these services. While these companies often profit from this, patients remain ignorant of how their health data is used. There is no simple way to track how the data has been used and who has access to the data.

The prevailing narrative is that people are unaware of where their medical data ends up once it is collected

Sharing patient data as an NFT opens up opportunities to share this data with health practitioners without the threat of it being misused. As the amount of personal and health information shared continues to grow, it is crucial to effectively manage it while also maintaining high levels of autonomy and security.

The potential for patients to monetize their health data could be another option available if this data is turned into an NFT. Patients can willingly offer their health data to be used for research in return for monetary benefits while being able to track and control the use. This would put the power back into the patient's hands and remove it from the apps that are profiting off this information.

Tokenizing chronic disease care and long-term health monitoring services

NFTs as a health service could have the potential to simplify health management and provide a secure method for keeping a record of the patient’s progress. Patients could choose specialized care packages in the form of NFTs that have been recommended by their physicians. Patients dealing with chronic diseases go through a lot of physical and emotional challenges and long-term care management is a huge challenge. Patients may have to deal with many different apps and methods to keep a track of their health, which worsens if someone is dealing with multiple chronic diseases. However, with NFTs, these patients can have one standard process that allows them access to the services available to them and allow them to exchange their data about health progress, history, and treatment in one simple and easy method.

Providing access to patient-centered care programs in exchange for NFTs can offer patients easy access to education, care coordination, tools for consultation with the correct person when they are in need of assistance, and a secure method of sharing their health progress

It could also provide an option to see how many people have enrolled for similar services and which services and providers are most popular among other patients. A survey by the Fight Chronic Disease Organization (FCDO) finds chronic diseases are responsible for more than 7 in 10 deaths in the U.S., killing more than 1.7 million Americans a year. The use of NFTs could help eliminate some of the key issues within the care of chronic illness by better allowing physicians to manage long-term health conditions.

Simplified Health Visits with Patient's Medical Passport

From making an appointment with a health specialist to transferring the results to a patient’s primary care provider and insurance can be confusing for many people. However, if we take NFT health records into the account, a great success could be accomplished if primary care physicians could share real-time updates with others in healthcare, thus enabling easier collaboration and more patient-centric care. NFTs have the potential to solve these various problems – giving the power of medical records back to the patient and streamlining the healthcare experience.

"Federal regulations already give patients the right to connect an app of their choice to their doctor’s electronic health record and download their data in a computable format," Kenneth Mandl, MD, director at Boston Children’s Hospital, professor at Harvard Medical School, wrote, "It’s intriguing to contemplate whether NFTs or NFT-like technology could enable intentional sharing of those data under smart contracts in the future."

By using NFTs, all of this crucial and sensitive patient information can be stored in one place - as a safe, secure and accurate patient "passport"

In the near future, NFTs may allow patients to access their medical test results immediately after they are available, along with the ability to gain access to their complicated medical histories instantly, without needing to explain their histories to multiple doctors.

Health Care Club Memberships

NFT social clubs are a recent trend, allowing people with similar interests to gain access to clubs and events. The New York Times highlighted one of the most hyped social clubs where members get access only after owning an NFT token. Media attention has also clustered around an upcoming restaurant in New York City that will be open only to the holders of certain NFTs.

In the healthcare model, support groups are proven to be very efficient for patients to cope with health conditions by interacting with people going through similar experiences. Professionally facilitated, family-led support groups are scientifically proven to be effective, specifically in groups for mental health issues.

However, one of the major challenges is finding a credible group that is the right fit for the patient. One of the advantages of having an NFT health club is that patients could track the group’s activity and get greater clarity on the group before joining.

These tokens are inherently sticky, as the members have the stake in the game, and it is designed to motivate behavior and encourage collective positive movement

People can always rent or sell the membership if they don't find it useful. The facilitator/health institutes who monitor the group can validate and restrict the number of members in the group.

Data for Health Research and Pharmaceutical Industries

NFTs offer people the chance to monetize their health data by providing access to healthcare research institutions or pharmaceutical companies.

The companies and researchers could request defined data items such as age, sex, health condition, etc which can be easily verified because of their source provided on the blockchain. NFTs can incentivize patients to share their health data in a secure and traceable blockchain. Sharing data on the blockchain not only offers transparency and accountability but also enables these companies to verify the authenticity and provenance of patient data.

There are plenty of examples where crucial health data has been taken from the patients accessing certain services such as DNA kits, genetic data, or data from using a pregnancy app. In many of these examples, the companies who have control of this data do not provide transparency of its use to the patients. Moreover, when the data is further shared or reused without the consent and verification of the original provider, it poses a risk of inaccurate or manipulated data.  To stop these unethical practices, NFTs can be a great solution to provide necessary information with much greater accuracy.

The patient data is crucial for the various clinical trials in the Pharma industry. Blockchain-based verified data could be beneficial to research and can provide more transparency to the people in the process of the development of these drugs. In 2021, Acoer released RightsHash, a decentralized software engine, which allows individuals’ rights, including consent to the action or to participate in a clinical trial, to be managed and tracked as NFTs.

Plasma, Platelet, and Blood Banks

NFTs could help access and monitor the need and supply of blood banks, allowing patients to more easily receive a pint of blood or just the specific components of the blood that are needed to treat their condition. 

NFTs can provide information regarding the source of the institute where the blood was donated, and it can further track it to where it is now. It also can be a positive motivator for the donors to track how their donation was used by an institution and how it helped someone

A blockchain system can also be used to track the demand for specific blood types and use the record in a digital blood bank to help distribute it wherever it is most needed.

How NFTs can be utilized in the Health Insurance Sector?

NFT technology is borderless and able to create assets that are unique and can be time-bound. This creates many possibilities for its application and uses in the health insurance sector.

Besides the multiple possibilities that NFT offers in the Medicare, it can also have some transformative impact on the health insurance market because of its capabilities for being borderless and time bound.

Many possibilities exist regarding how these new technologies can be adapted to solve some of the health insurance needs in new and innovative ways. Here are a few of the potential use cases to utilize decentralized blockchain technology in health insurance.

More Efficient Claim Processing

While processing claims, many times insurance companies need to verify information- who is the health care provider, do they fall into the range of the plan the patient has, ensuring there are no duplicate claims, verifying the checkup results and amount charged by the health institutions, etc. NFTs can help get all those answers in a more efficient way by easily tracking the source of the treatment and all other important information needed to approve a claim.

Time-Bound Services with Dynamic NFTs

The next wave of NFTs are dynamic NFTs that can evolve based on the stage or state. Making an NFT time-bound means it can end after a specified time. These features can be extremely helpful in creating time-bound health insurance services for the people who already have a full plan but may need short-term protection.

Health Insurance Tourism

Every year around 80 million people travel to the US, and the travel duration can be long-term to short-term travel.  Most travel health insurance covers some benefits, but it can be confusing for travelers to pick the right travel health insurance. Some insurance may not be as useful to cover the health expenditure someone might have to pay during travel. Travelers may also find it challenging to understand the insurance process in the United States.

NFTs in the form of travel health insurance can help people easily pick from a short-term or long-term token of available insurance services. Travelers can then get the benefit of the blockchain to track the claims they have made for their medical expenditures.

This also works for travelers from the US to other parts of the world. The global coverage of US-based health insurance may be limited and having independent travel health insurance can be very helpful for these travelers.

Why won't existing digital health solutions be enough in the future?

The existing digital health solutions still don't have a standard method to capture and use health data. Many people are not aware of how private and public-owned health systems can connect in order to be used to provide them with holistic health solutions. Interoperability has been a major challenge that has yet to be addressed in existing systems, thus making blockchain technology more appropriate for reaching the desired outcome.

Data is a very important part of the health care system and people understand how their health data can be very useful for the improvement of their long-term care. There are no easy ways to manage and track the data. Today, people are aware their data exists, but usually have no access to it or control over where it goes. On the other hand, when doctors don’t have access to all of their patients’ existing information, misdiagnosis and redundant treatments can occur. This affects patients on both a financial and personal level—they’re paying more but receiving lower-quality care. And health plans are on the hook for covering these ineffective services.

Some of the companies who have already leveraged these technologies are, Aimedis, an in-house NFT marketplace that allows patients to process their data as NFTs and easily forward it to their doctor, dentist, or physiotherapist, and Enjin, who partnered with the digital platform Health Hero in June to create Go!, where users can create a “Well-being NFT”, or W-NFT, unique to their health and activity characteristics.

With NFTs, these data issues can be easily resolved and bring a revolution in the way health data is handled.

It has great advantages to be early in the game, to adapt to the new technology, to grow with it, and to support the health mission to make this more accessible