Blockchain, the technology used by Bitcoin for financial transactions, is gaining support as a way for doctors and health-care institutions to share a patient’s medical information.
Currently, electronic health records are used by many hospitals, but they are very difficult to share among physicians — say your primary care physician and your allergist.
And, because the data is stored on centralized servers, it is easily hacked.
BLOCKCHAIN WOULDN’T COMPROMISE PRIVACY
Advocates believe that blockchain could end that by connecting those records without compromising privacy, according to a report by KERA.
According to IBM, “Blockchain is a shared, immutable ledger for recording the history of transactions. It fosters a new generation of transactional applications that establish trust, accountability and transparency.”
Dallas-based HealthNextGen CEO Venkatesh Hariharan said while there is a lot of hype surrounding blockchain, it could positively disrupt the health-care industry.
“Blockchain’s going to be game changing. I can’t think of a more disruptive technology on the market at present.”
Venkatesh Hariharan
“Blockchain’s going to be game changing,” he told KERA. “I can’t think of a more disruptive technology on the market at present.”
Blockchain also is gaining interest in the halls of Congress, where a Congressional Blockchain Caucus has been formed.
Co-chairs David Schweikert, R-Arizona, and Jared Polis, D-Colorado, said they hope to educate fellow representatives about the opportunities blockchain could afford.
“Members of Congress are starting to get visits from people that are doing things with the blockchain and talking about it,” Polis told MIT Technology Review. “They are interested in learning more, and we hope to provide the forum to do that.”
Schweikert told MIT Technology Review that it’s important that people understand that blockchain isn’t necessarily Bitcoin, and that it has many applications.
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R E A D N E X T
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The inaugural October 8th Texas Blockchain Summit could be a watershed event for making Texas "the jurisdiction of choice" for Bitcoin and other digital currencies. Lee Bratcher, president of the Texas Blockchain Council, will host a wide array of speakers including Texas Senators John Cornyn and Ted Cruz and Wyoming Senator Cynthia Lummis.
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Five local winners received up to $200,000 in funding to activate their solutions throughout North Texas.
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The DFW Alliance of Technology and Women held its 19th annual Executive Forum last week, urging attendees to "crack the courage code" and empower women in business. Afterward, DFW*ATW's president, Shanthi Rajaram, spoke with Dallas Innovates about her takeaways from the event—and how being "comfortable with the unknown" helped her start her own entrepreneurship journey.
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The gender gap in computing is getting worse: In 1995 37% of computer scientists were women, dropping to 24% today. State Farm is taking action with a new STEM summit to engage girls in science, technology, engineering, and math. Registration is open until Sept. 18.
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With Dallas ranked as one of the top cities in America for tech pros, UT Dallas and Fullstack have launched four skills training bootcamps focused on coding, cybersecurity, data analytics, and DevOps. The online bootcamps begin in November with tuition at $11,995 each.
