Patient-Centric Healthcare via Blockchain

On a recent visit to Seoul, Pradeep Goel talked with us about how his company, Solve.Care, has the potential to revolutionize the healthcare industry by using blockchain technology. With roughly 25 years of experience in healthcare, his analysis of the industry as a whole is one to be trusted.

Solve.Care is a platform which can consolidate the tremendous amount of paperwork fielded by healthcare providers. The Solve.Care platform has already been adopted per a partnership with Arizona Care Network and is being rolled out on an invitation basis to each member of the network to ensure smooth implementation.

BN: The first question is an easy one to think of, but can be hard to explain. What problem in healthcare is Solve.Care looking to solve? Or, more conceptually, what is your overall vision for Solve.Care?

PG: Fundamentally we’re trying to address the central delivery method of healthcare around the world. We’re moving away from system-centric healthcare and moving towards patient-centric. We want patients to be able to access healthcare in a way that is most comfortable for them rather than going through the convoluted bureaucracy of it all. With Solve.Care you don’t need to ask permission to go to a doctor, and the doctor doesn’t need permission to see a patient because all of that information is provided through the platform in an easy-to-read way.

BN: So you want to make the entire process run smoother for patients in terms of how they contact their insurance company and go about finding the healthcare they need?

PG: Yes, that’s right, and it’s predicated on the fact that the term we currently use for ‘patient’ is ‘beneficiary’ which is a sort of pejorative. It makes patients seem like free-loaders or problem children. Furthermore, that language makes the insurers seem like they are playing the victim. “Poor me, the insurer, having to pay out to this person…” This is an absolutely ridiculous situation.

I realized when my own son got sick how frustrating the entire process is. It made me see that there was need for a change. Despite all the conversations I had in board rooms about patient-centered care, nothing ever happened because changing things just because you want to will not cause the change. Change comes from necessity, which is what I faced personally.

BN: It seems like you spent a long time putting together all the concept for the platform. How is blockchain technology useful for carrying out this vision?

PG: It does three things. First, it gives me a care coordination ledger on an immutable ledger which the patient owns but others can access only with the right consent. This makes it easy for patients and providers to see, for example, when a prescription is sent or filled, or if it wasn’t sent or wasn’t filled. It isn’t for keeping medical records, though.

Second, it acts as the vehicle for payments. Doctors can receive instant payments over the blockchain without the typical drawn-out processes that bog down doctor’s offices and hospitals all around the world. This second part removes a huge amount of annoyances from the entire process.

Third, there is a delegation of authority. This allows members of my plan to be able to do certain things without needing to contact me. Members can see whatever doctor they want to see regardless of which insurance they are a member of because the payments are guaranteed from my end.

BN: I’m sure you’re aware that there are a number of blockchain projects already trying to tackle the healthcare industry, such as Medibloc or Dentacoin. How is Solve.Care different from them?

PG: Solve.Care is an event ledger, not an electronic medical records (EMR) replacement. We coordinate, measure, and pay for care. Although I have some reservations about putting EMR on a blockchain, I could definitely see us partnering with someone like Medibloc at some point.

BN: Solve.Care requires members and doctors to use two different coins. There are other projects doing that for various reasons, but I’d like to know your rationale for utilizing two separate coins for Solve.Care.

PG: There’s a simple explanation for that. First, Solve Coin is the essential coin we use to allow companies to publish their Care.Cards and for us to get paid so as to create an economic payment model. Also, people don’t need to know about how Ethereum works, so Solve Coin serves as the GAS which we take of on our end. Care.Coin, however, is optional and does not have speculative value. It be used for whatever function a member may want it for, like in research efforts along with optional Care.Cards that a company can use where participants enter relevant information in regards to the research.

BN: The Solve.Care interface is predicated on Care.Cards which patients and doctors use to follow the course of treatment. This is an interesting approach since many blockchain companies have opted for ‘seamless’ integration into their respective industry where users don’t have to learn a new interface. Why is developing a new interface better than using existing interfaces for Solve.Care?

PG: The existing systems have significant barriers to creating automation. If today as a doctor I wanted to change my appointment criteria, that would be a whole IT project. And that would be only if I had the clout to exact that change in the first place. Furthermore, that sort of project would be very expensive. Ultimately we don’t want EMR to get in the way the services provided by either us or the doctor.’

The Solve.Care roadmap for 2019 includes getting Care.Cards out as soon as possible to as many members as possible. As is the case with so many blockchain projects these days, their roadmap focuses on adoption first.

Big thanks to Pradeep and his team for coming to Seoul and telling us all about their project.