Abstract: 10/15/2020 FINAL
Abstract
BlockInterop is a Digital Health company that focuses on the development of Healthcare Meaningful Use Applications, Web Services and Data Transformation tools. “Meaningful Use” is a national initiative to implement information technology for the ultimate purpose of improving patient care. Our LooPT Medical Device Management solution satisfies “Meaningful Use” objectives, Public Health concerns, and Healthcare Interoperability needs for Medical Device Manufacturers (MDMs), Healthcare Delivery Organizations (HDOs), and for the overall improvement of Patient Care.
In light of the recent Coronavirus outbreak, we have heard government leaders speak of the deficiencies in our medical supply chain. In the media it has been referred to as more than “just unfortunate, it’s a danger to public health.”
At BlockInterop, we feel that it’s extremely important to focus on a more secure medical supply chain. How can we do this? By improving critical infrastructures, improving data sharing and accessibility to accurate supply chain information. Ultimately, ensuring everyone has timely and uninterrupted access to medical devices and an overall safer and more secure healthcare data.
At BlockInterop, Inc., we are committed to creating an innovative and decentralized healthcare ecosystem. One where Patients, Providers and Healthcare Organizations all can benefit as we aim to solve the issues of interoperability, accessibility, security as well as improve the overall integrity of data in today’s healthcare.
One where providers and payers are enabled with more robust and secured data transactions across ecosystems, clinical studies and supply chains. Healthcare Delivery Organizations (HDOs) and Medical Device Manufacturers (MDMs) are equipped with solutions that will reduce their operational costs, improve efficiencies, enhance data exchange and security.
As the demand for radiological studies continues to rise globally, the focus on Medical Device Safety in the Magnetic Resonance (MR) Environment has been of concern and there is more interest in how blockchain could improve upon the current processes. Some of the concerns are centered around more urgent situations when doctors and hospitals need immediate and secure access to a patient’s entire health history.
BlockInterop’s use of Blockchain technology allows a medical device to be uniquely identified with a Global ID in the supply chain. This makes it possible to track and trace individual medical devices from the supply chain to the finished product manufacturer through distribution to the patient. Although many in the healthcare industry believe only doctors should control such confidential information in order to ensure proper care, patients are empowered by having more personalized control over their important healthcare data, thus easing the transition of care.
Dr. Jan P Muizelaar, PhD, a Neurosurgeon and Professor of Neurosurgery, Marshall University, Huntington, WV, recounted a patient having control of their personal healthcare data would make a blockchain enabled technology, such as LooPT a wish come true.
BlockInterop’s LooPT Medical Device Management solution was designed to make improvements to the current medical supply chain process. We see the value of utilizing a Blockchain based solution. LooPT’s ecosystem will offer industry stakeholders and regulatory authorities’ access to this infrastructure to assist with monitoring valuable data, such as manufacturing quality and inventory, along with added efficiency for supply chain data sharing and monitoring.
This would improve our ability to recognize medical device shortages, increasing preparedness for crises such as the Coronavirus outbreak. LooPT will be available for private practices, healthcare organizations and patients on the BlockInterop SaaS Marketplace – DAASH. “We are laying a foundation for the SaaS and iPaaS Network, by creating a smart-contract marketplace for Digital Health products and services” said Gina Malak, CEO BlockInterop.
“BlockInterop’s LooPT solution will save a lot of time and money, and above all will enhance patient safety. I have been wishing for this technology to be operative years ago!” said Dr. Muizelaar, PhD, a Neurosurgeon who further explained how having blockchain based technology such as LooPT, many years ago would have assisted him with improving patient care.
He references three distinct cases out of the many he has encountered, “The first is a young child with a shunt for hydrocephalus (“water on the brain”) where the caregivers did not know the type of shunt and its settings. Thus, we had to resort to x-rays and a CT scan, which is very harmful in children and we try to avoid them at all cost (one CT scan in 10,000 children causes one incurable case of deadly cancer!). The LooPT app would have made all of this avoidable.”
“The second is a woman who was on her way to total paralysis due to spinal cord issues and needed an MRI scan of her spine. However, she had had a brain aneurysm clipped elsewhere a few years earlier, and even though I recognized the clip as MRI compatible, the radiologist as per the guidelines of the radiological association did not want to take the risk of the clip moving or being heated up. It took three days (yes, a three-day delay of urgent treatment….) to get the implant records from the other hospital to prove the type of clip used. Had the patient had access to the LooPT app, it would have taken seconds.”
“The third is of a patient who had been in an accident a few years earlier and had part of his skull replaced with a (titanium) mesh. Again, no records were available, and it took me sending his X-ray to the manufacturer of the implant who then confirmed the type of implant (which I had easily recognized myself, but I had no “proof”).”
He further stated, “Thus, even though neurosurgery is a relatively small specialty, there is enormous potential application for LooPT technology.
LooPT Medical Device Management solution also satisfies “Meaningful Use” objectives. In addition, providing healthcare organizations with a solution that will reduce their operational costs, improve efficiencies and enhance data security. It will also give control back to the patient about their own health records while maintaining one unified record instead of siloed records in many different places. Thus, improving patient safety, reducing cost and repeated inquiries for patient medical history, such as contrast allergies, the presence or lack of a presence of a medical device or metal in the body.
Information stored in a blockchain allows a patient to decide who has access to this information. Only persons to whom the patient has granted consent would have access to this information. Blockchain can also improve medical supply chain management by offering an immutable record of how a medical device moves between stakeholders until it gets to the patient, along with inspection and maintenance records.
Blockchain offers an additional layer of trust and security, as health devices need to be protected against data breaches, making blockchain a suitable technology to track and manage transactions that are scattered across various siloed systems.
BlockInterop has made it our mission to provide superior Blockchain services and solutions that will empower patients by giving them more personalized control over their important healthcare data. We also provide healthcare organizations with solutions that will reduce their operational costs, improve efficiencies and data security, while increasing long-term returns and retention for providers and healthcare organizations alike. We enable providers and payers with more robust and secured data transactions across multiple ecosystems, conducting clinical studies and streamlining supply chains.