A midwestern health system is partnering with a university to build a blockchain-based app focused on rewarding patients for complying with their regimen. Among the key goals of the project is to see whether the app can provide the rewards while still meeting consumer privacy and protection laws.
The project is being conducted jointly by two Illinois-based organizations, the University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign and OSF HealthCare, a health system that operates 15 hospitals and employs almost 24,000 people.
The two are conducting their research through the Jump ARCHES program, which was established in 2014 to provide grants to engineers and physicians working together to combat problems in the realm of health care.
The current round of grants addresses projects such as creating a smartphone app for more efficient migraine referral, developing virtual reality simulation training for neonatal procedures and deploying wearable sensors in a hospital environment to monitor nursing stress.
The idea behind the blockchain app effort is to reward consumers quickly for health-positive behaviors such as taking medication and exercising.
The project is using blockchain to leverage its unique privacy and security capabilities. Among other things, blockchain allows app users and reward suppliers to be anonymous. The researchers are basing their security approach on a principle, known as a zero-knowledge proof method, in which one party can prove to another that a given statement is valid without the original party having to convey any additional information.
Because the reward suppliers aren’t identified, the incentives probably would not be considered an inducement to use a specific medical device or service, which could be seen as a kickback under US law, the researchers have concluded.
At this stage, researchers are still mulling over what kind of rewards are likely to be most effective in motivating patients. One option they’re considering is giving consumers some form of currency, possibly cryptocurrency, in addition to other digital incentives. These rewards, which they’d get in near real-time, would hopefully be more reinforcing than payoffs that come far later and less predictably. They would also provide an incentive to follow their regimen more consistently than they would otherwise do based strictly on their relationship with their doctor.
Right now, consumers have contact with their doctors every few months or twice a year, and they may let their compliance slide until they get close to visit time, notes Tate Ralph of Jump Simulation, an innovation engineer with the program. “Something like this, where you have a positive reason to [comply] not just a negative reason, I think that can be really powerful to help people be healthier,” Ralph said.
In the future, Ralph sees enhancements to the blockchain-based app such as harvesting of wearables data or making use of feeds from in-home monitors, along with offering rewards to foster community health initiatives such as vaccination drives and health screenings.
As interesting as all of this is, it’s clear that blockchain projects like this are still at a speculative stage. Nonetheless, it’s good to see the researchers soldiering on, as they definitely play a role in building our understanding of blockchain’s benefits.
