Biometrics technology could provide additional security measures for blockchain technology being deployed in the healthcare industry. For example, a UK biometrics company has partnered with health services with the aim of integrating its technology with healthcare-focused blockchain projects. The extra security this collaboration hopes to deliver could potentially eliminate a number of healthcare inefficiencies. And in an age when cybersecurity and technological proficiency are essential, this is a step towards some much-needed updating of practices in one of our most important sectors.
A history of successful integration
Blockchain and biometrics have been combined for identification purposes before. Back in 2017, a partnership of two companies produced a blockchain solution that functioned as a digital identification system for refugees using biometric data. Pharmaceutical companies have also considered the use of blockchain to improve their track-and-trace processes.
Biometrics technology has even previously been leveraged by the United Nation Agencies in the prevention of human trafficking, providing iris-based registration and e-payment solutions for refugees through the World Food Programme and the High Commissioner for Refugees.
Addressing a growing problem in modern healthcare
The identification of patients has become a prominent and ever-increasing problem in the modern healthcare system. This combination of biometrics and blockchain technology could help providers identify individuals with an extremely high level of accuracy using iris recognition and data matching processes. And because the verification is handled on the blockchain, the concept is scalable without making any sacrifices in terms of data security, which is one of the major problems of existing healthcare systems.
Through iris recognition, fraud can be reduced and the current abuses that plague both the pharmaceutical and healthcare industries could be hugely mitigated. Having irrefutable confirmation of patients’ identities is a protective measure that will add unparalleled security to databases, and the integration with blockchain will amplify this and keep data management as streamlined and efficient as possible.
The tech is expected to be rolled out for clinical trials in 2019. The potential of this combination of technologies for the future is extremely exciting and will serve as a much-needed step to improve security and efficiency in healthcare if it is a success in the trial stage.
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