I want to add the following. I'm an IT professional. In the course of my professional duties, I'm expected to…
Morning Headlines 4/3/18
GE Sheds Health IT Assets for $1B, Doubles Down on A.I. and Devices
Veritas Capital will acquire GE Healthcare’s Value-Based Care Division – including ambulatory care, RCM, and workforce management assets – for $1 billion.
St. Charles’ new $79.5 million record system going online
St. Charles Health System (OR) brings its “slightly under budget” Epic system online after a two-year implementation process.
Insurers will study blockchain to fix their provider lists
UnitedHealth Group, Optum, Humana, Quest Diagnostics, and Multiplan embark on a pilot project to determine if blockchain technology can streamline the process of verifying and updating their provider lists.
Merged Aurora Health Care, Advocate Health Care consider clinic expansion near Foxconn
Advocate Aurora Health co-CEO and co-President Jim Skogsbergh says the newly merged entity’s biggest priority will be converting Advocate facilities to Epic – a three-year project with an as yet undisclosed cost.
A blockchain is simply a specialized database (data structure) that works well to allow decentralization/trustlessness and immutability. For applications where those properties are not neccessary, a blockchain is horribly inefficient and overly complex solution compared to other solutions like a relational database, key/value store, excel spreadsheet, or simply a text document.
Similar to “cloud computing”, “blockchain” is a buzzword and including it out of context in articles just generates hype and a false-perception of ingenuity.
With that said, there are legitimate uses for blockchain. A currency is one of them. Provider lists aren’t… it just doesn’t even make sense.