Healthcare is tough. Change is extremely difficult in our industry. Yet, our industry is embracing technologies like blockchain. While there is significant disruption power behind blockchain, it is a technology in its infancy. Furthermore, the hype of blockchain as a transformative technology will need to overcome regulatory constraints and significant challenges that keep the status quo. That said, in a 2017 survey by IBM amongst 200 healthcare executives, 16% expected to have a commercial blockchain solution at scale in the next year. This focus paper will demystify this technology describing how it works and will provide potential applications citing real-world examples such as interoperability, security and smart contracts.
