A Sign of Recording Revolution for Medical Industry

A Sign of Recording Revolution for Medical Industry

     We are under the strong influence of Digitalization. It is changing everything in our lives; our thoughts and our behavior. In addition, the movement is expanding traditional conservative fields such as digital currencies, financial transactions. Now, considering our medical information, there are in the middle of confusion in a period of transition to digitalization because its storage had been divided separately and it sometime vanished on individual cases. What's more, there are informational gaps between healthcare professionals and patients in the point of storing medical records. Occasionally healthcare professionals make a comment of a necessity of “firewalls” for patients to protect from incorrect and harmful medical information. Certainly the opinion to lead patients to precision medicine under providing appropriate information by professionals is extremely important to protect patients from unnecessary medical cares. However, for our future we must consciously control our medical data; who should have ownership and access to our medical records?

      Recently, a hot topic in the medical industry is “Real world data”. The definition of FDA draft guidance1) is to collect data from sources outside of traditional clinical trails. Essentially, the data is connected with “internet of the things”2) such as innovational concept of “mobile health”3). For example some pedometers, multi-functional both scales and “i-watch” collect medical data including physical data and vital signs from our body on demand. Thus, real world data is now the focus of public attention to transform patient outcomes. A lot of researchers and creators struggle to develop healthcare instruments and medical devices. In the big data era we may be brimming over with personal health data, but most of medical data has already vanished without storage.

     At present a noteworthy technology of digital recording is “Blockchain”4), that is a backbone for digital transactions to distribute registration of records at low cost high performance and increasing effectiveness. For example, Blockchain has the possibility to use commonly for a digital currency and a fundamental system of banking. The essential point of blockchain is the impossibility of falsification of our record history, thus a lot of people are turning over in their mind whether they utilize it for continual record storages or not in various fields. For the near future, all personal information might be stored in blockchain networks for identity verification or medical/health data. Then, we must take notice of the potential of blockchain to have personal medical data by individual in medical treatment. In addition, the critical point is to enable the development of its products connected with the Internet of Things, its movement is consistent in medical digitalization. Besides, its potential application would use cases for the medical industry between healthcare professionals and patients for continual storage of their information. Especially insurance companies would dramatically translate conductors of adherence for high personal standards to investigational business of medical data because blockchain will offer a reliable platform of analytical incentive for customer-controlled personal medical history to make a minute investigation of values of a membership list in insurance products.

      Now, the reality is that personal data would store on the individual personal device, thus, the consistent medical data that depend on each persons does not exist. For the future, we might need to consider whether our personal medical data should be stored permanently on the blockchain or not. The proposition of the recording revolution would change our attitude for our management of medical personal data, thus, patients will autonomously inform their medical information. In addition, the movement would create a new medical support business to manage our medical information by ourselves with professional medical supports. Finally, I would like to restate the suggestion of the promising tools that will be essential to construct the bio-networks system5) as follows;

1. Collect digital data from the vital signs of the human body

2. Make medical data for patients, preferably by readily available visual images

3. Give patients the opportunity to select instructive treatments for by themselves

Reference

1) Use of Real-World Evidence to Support Regulatroy Decision-Making for Medical Devices. (http://www.fda.gov/ucm/groups/fdagov-public/@fdagov-meddev-gen/documents/document/ucm513027.pdf)

2) IBM: Internet of Things (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfEbMV295Kk)?

3) Mobile Health (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MHealth)

4) Blockchain: https://blockchain.info/ja., 「中本論文」Satoshi Nakamoto,Bitcoin: A Peer-to- Peer Electronic Cash System., McKinsey&Company: Blockchain-in-insurance-opportunity-or-threat.

5) https://nmtbaron.amebaownd.com/