I-Corps: Blockchain-Enabled Patient Centric Consent To Improve Access To Care

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the development of a software system that will allow patients’ efficient accessibility to medical second opinions using distributed ledger technology. The proposed solution is fundamentally different than existing solutions. Recent studies identified barriers to the market including long waiting times and unclear costs.

The current second opinion solutions do not address the interoperability and information silo problem, and they keep the burden of collecting information on patients. Patients provide records to the best of their ability, but unfortunately many times the information they provide is insufficient, and not specific to their visit, which occasionally requires repeat imaging/testing/studies.

The proposed solution saves physicians time and addresses current barriers of non-technical patients as it simplifies, organizes, and efficiently presents this information to a physician for a clear picture of the patient's condition. Current medical second opinion market size is estimated to be $7.1 Billion by 2025.

This I-Corps project is based on the development of a distributed ledger technology that solves the challenge faced by patients to have their complete medical charts available for dissemination. Currently, the information resides is with different modalities and transparency requirements and is scattered among various physicians and institutions. The proposed technology uses the distributed ledger built-in infrastructure to support seamless patient control, notification, and even compensation, when permitted by law, every time their data is accessed and used.

Having the data attached with a distributed ledger infrastructure enables an automated tracing mechanism that may support a transparent use of data any time. The technology helps minimize the patients waiting time by ensuring the accessibility of the collected patient records to physicians. In addition, it helps the patient with the cost estimation of the second opinion by preventing unnecessary tests already done.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.