Blockchain Architecture in Transforming Continuity of Care Post-Discharge: An Exploratory Investigation

Unanticipated patient readmissions in general is a major challenge for any health care system in the world and the goal is to improve continuity of care post discharge to reduce costs and encourage patients to self-manage their health. Hospitals discuss several tasks patients need to engage in post discharge and many of these tasks call on patients to visit external care providers (pharmacies, specialists, rehab facilities, labs, etc.). All these external care providers have varying motivations to provide such patient care and in many cases, they do not even know a patient needs such follow-up care until patients set up an appointment to visit them.  In spite of standards that allow sharing of patient information, there are either few systems that support sharing of such information or regulations that prevent such sharing due to privacy concerns. Even if an organizational entity develops such a system, gaining trust in such a system is no easy challenge. Blockchain architecture with its characteristics such as distributed ledger, smart contracts, and public/private keys that validate a contributor’s access to and addition of data to this network may be able to address this challenge. This presentation will explore the viability of blockchair architecture to address continuity of care.