The research organization Data Foundation and IT firm Booz Allen Hamilton have published a report with five proposed questions to guide the United States federal government on where and how to implement blockchain initiatives. Their research was published in the report “Bringing Blockchain Into Government: A Path Forward for Creating Effective Federal Blockchain Initiatives” on June 10. According to the report, blockchain solutions make the most sense when applied to some sort of procedure with a predetermined level of consistency and a low level of agility, assuming that the immutable ledger provided by blockchain is valuable for the task in …

А leading pharmaceutical firm Boehringer Ingelheim has teamed up with blockchain-based healthcare platform Solve.Care, according to a press release shared with Cointelegraph on June 6. Germany-based Boehringer, one of the world’s 20 largest pharma companies, and Solve.Care are planning to build a blockchain and digital asset-powered network for trusted sharing of data about patients with diabetes. Based on Solve.Care’s blockchain platform, the new healthcare system is known as the Diabetes Care Administration Network. The network intends to provide assistance in coordinating care for patients, as well as to share information about the risks associated with diabetes, prevention and symptoms, among …

Global retail giant Walmart is expanding its blockchain expertise by joining blockchain-powered pharmaceutical consortium MediLedger, industry media outlet CoinDesk reports on June 3. Walmart is reportedly planning to roll out a pilot project to track pharmaceutical products using MediLedger technology with the United States Food and Drug Administration in early June. By joining the consortium, Walmart has followed four major American pharmaceutical companies including Pfizer Inc., which joined MediLedger in early May, to collaborate on the development of a blockchain network for the health and pharmaceutical industry. Pfizer, along with McKesson Corporation, AmerisourceBergen Corporation and Premier Inc. officially announced that …

A Pfizer executive has challenged existing theories about slow rates of blockchain adoption — telling the Consensus conference on May 14 that the technology is “basically good enough to have more production blockchains than we have today.” Ken Nessel, senior director of business technology at the pharmaceutical giant, made his comments during the second day of the conference in New York City. He joined AstraZeneca’s Kate Gofman for an event called From Bench to Bedside: Blockchains and the Future of Clinical Research. When asked for an honest assessment about what is holding the blockchain industry back, Nessel said: “I think …

Pfizer Inc. and other leading American pharmaceutical companies have joined a project to build a blockchain network for the health and pharmaceutical industry, according to a press release on May 2. McKesson Corporation, AmerisourceBergen Corporation, Premier Inc. and Pfizer Inc. have joined the MediLedger Project Contracting and Chargebacks working group. MediLedger — which is an initiative of San Francisco-based blockchain tech company Chronicled Inc. — is designed to reduce costs and make processes more efficient in data sharing by developing a common network. The solution will purportedly automate the contract reconciliation and chargeback processes. Chargebacks — cancelled or disputed transactions …

Chinese internet giant Tencent will work with a local disruptor insurance company to develop new blockchain solutions, Bloomberg reported on April 30. Waterdrop, which forms part of China’s rapidly-expanding crowdfunded health insurance industry, will leverage Tencent’s existing presence and experience in the field to create as yet undefined blockchain tools. The move follows the closure of Waterdrop’s Series B funding round in March, led by Tencent, which raised 500 million yuan ($74.2 million). At the same time, the company is looking for fresh financing, Bloomberg revealed, along with seeking a valuation of at least $1 billion. “The company will spend …

Blockchain-powered medical data marketplace Longenesis and biotechnology company Insilico Medicine have entered into an agreement with South Korean hospital Gil Medical Center to create a blockchain-based health data management solution. The development was announced in a press release published on April 23. As part of the collaboration, the parties intend to develop a blockchain-powered platform based on Bitfury’s Exonum blockchain framework to increase the efficiency of data collection, boost medical research processes and ensure transparent management of patient consent. Longenesis will reportedly provide a secure ecosystem for Gil Medical Center to upload, store and manage patients’ private data, allowing patients …

Major health information technology provider for the United States government, HMS Technologies Inc. (HMS) has partnered with blockchain startup Solve.Care. The development was announced in a press release shared with Cointelegraph on April 22. As part of the collaboration, HMS will reportedly integrate Solve.Care’s blockchain platform into their federal health information technology (HIT) initiatives in a bid to reduce government healthcare costs and improve interoperability and accessibility. Bill Kirkpatrick, CEO of HMS, said that the partnership will “enable disparate HIT applications to share secured health data via patient authorized access using unsecured Internet connectivity, improving care coordination while enhancing digital …

Portland State University (PSU) researchers have made a blockchain protocol to prevent counterfeit pharmaceuticals from filling the market, according to a press release published on April 15. PSU researcher and professor of computer science at the Maseeh College of Engineering and Computer Science, Nirupama Bulusu, in collaboration with PSU computer science doctoral student Naif Alzahrani published a work dubbed "A new product anti-counterfeiting blockchain using a truly decentralized dynamic consensus protocol." In the paper, the researchers described a new blockchain-based method to record transactions geared to facilitate the fight against fake pharmaceuticals by product checking and decentralization. The proposed solution …

The Bitfury Group and blockchain-powered medical data marketplace Longenesis have jointly launched production of a blockchain-based consent management system for the healthcare industry. The development was announced in a press release shared with Cointelegraph on April 4. Per the release, the new product addresses issues with the management of user consent for ongoing and upcoming research endeavors, compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), as well as streamlining data collection for medical research. Once collected, all data and updates to user consent are reportedly recorded on the ExonumTM blockchain with timestamping …

A major hospital in South Korea’s capital city has announced plans to launch a blockchain-based platform aimed to improve its medical services. The news was reported by the Daily Medi, a healthcare sector-focused Korean news outlet, on March 17. According to the publication, the “Smart Hospital” project was jointly developed by the Korean Ministry of Science and ICT and the Seoul Medical Center, and aims to improve data accuracy and reduce processing timing for the aforementioned hospital. The article also states: “Seoul Medical Center will build an automated, personalized, integrated medical information platform by providing electronic prescription delivery, certificate issuance, …

Ridesharing app Lyft has partnered with blockchain startup Solve.Care to tokenize healthcare-related transport arrangements. The development was announced in a press release from Solve.Care on March 4. Estonia-based Solve.Care is a decentralized, blockchain-powered platform that focuses on enhancing healthcare administration and access to healthcare services for users and insurers. The partnership with Lyft will allow Solve.Care users to schedule Lyft rides to doctors’ clinics, hospitals, and pharmacies, with automated payments using native utility token SOLVE via their Solve.Care digital wallets. Payment for rides can be shared with family, employers, insurers or other parties. The service will also allow patients to …