NEW YORK (360Dx) – A group of healthcare organizations, including Quest Diagnostics, are launching a pilot program to use blockchain technology to improve quality data and reduce administrative costs, they announced on Monday.
The group also includes Humana, Multiplan, UnitedHealth Group's Optum, and UnitedHealthcare. The effort is directed at data quality and administrative costs related to changes to healthcare provider demographic data, which they said are a "critical, complex, and difficult issue facing organizations across the healthcare system."
They plan to use blockchain technology to guarantee that the most current healthcare provider information is available in provider directories. They noted that different healthcare stakeholders typically maintain separate copies of healthcare provider data, resulting in time-intensive and expensive reconciliation processes when differences arise. The pilot program will evaluate how sharing data across healthcare organization on blockchain technology can improve data accuracy, streamline administration, and improve access to care.
Additionally, the program will explore the high cost of healthcare provider data management and assess whether improvements can be made by sharing data inputs and changes made by different parties across a blockchain, simultaneously reducing costs and improving data quality, the participants said.