Philippines’ MediXserve Discusses How Blockchain Can Improve Electronic Medical Records

October 17, 2018. In the particular health center where I usually go for checkups, I haven’t noticed how they kept their records of each patient – through index cards. But the memory of the barangay health official browsing through hundreds or thousands of index card just to get my record came back to me during a press briefing of MediXserve, where they introduced their blockchain-based platform to improve those very health records.

MediXserve is a blockchain-based platform that seeks to create permanent immutable medical histories for patients, which in turn can empower health companies and providers when giving advice to the patients.

In an ideal scenario, all participants in the healthcare industry – from patients to hospitals to insurance providers to drugstores – are under the platform. The patient, in particular, shall have all their records, which includes every diagnosis and every medicine taken – all recorded.

The records will be owned by the patient. It is up to them if they want to reveal it to their doctors, to the hospitals, or to the insurance providers. After all, every other participant does not need to know your entire health history.

And if the patient cannot reveal their records because they don’t have the capacity to do so, “MediXserve still can obtain relevant record simply by scanning the company’s product in the possession of the patient,” said Jojy Azurin, co-founder of MediXserve in response to a question from the BitPinas staff.

This allows a better and faster* diagnosis of any needed future medical attention of the patient because it liberalizes the medical records that are often silo-ed from one place to another. For example, in the traditional scenario, if the patient needs medical attention in Davao, and all their medical records are at a hospital in Manila, there is “time” that will be spent before the Davao hospital can receive the record from the Manila hospital.

*Of course, “faster and better” might not always be the case as every patient case varies from one to another.

If this data is recorded on the blockchain, that friction is gone. The patient can reveal their record to the new hospital immediately, which in turn allows them to get medical advice immediately.

Blockchain can help solve the problem in electronic medical records because of the following:

• Interoperability – it will allow different groups to collaborate and participate in a secure ecosystem.
• Empowered patient – it will allow the patient to own all of their medical records and have a copy of it.

Blockchain, as an immutable ledger means there will only be “one record of truth”.

But will this catch on? According to Mr. Azurin, co-founder of MediXserve, this is possible for them because their products are already live. These products include MediXhome (home service laboratory testing), LiFEDATA (subscription-based patient-centric mobile EMR), MediXcare (24/7 telemedicine), and ShineOS+ (electronic medical records). MediXserve has already generated $5 million in revenues, close to 1 million electronic medical records, and covers more than 30,000 doctors and 2,500 hospitals and clinics.

Onboarding everyone will just be a matter of time.