Bitfury and Longenesis, a health data company, have partnered up to launch a blockchain based consent management solution that streamlines data collection for medical research.
According to reports, the new blockchain-based solution will make it easy to track and manage user consent for individual studies and medical trials. It will also enable users to change or withdraw their consent for these studies at any time.
All updates to user consent will be recorded on an immutable, transparent Exonum blockchain with time-stamping for future auditing. The solution can be used both as a full data-management system and as an add-on to existing digital systems for storing user consent.
Reportedly, the new product addresses issues with the management of user consent for ongoing and upcoming research endeavors. It will help ease the compliance process with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). Medical professions will no longer need to spend a lot of their funds and times trying to comply with these regulations. Normally, failure to comply with HIPAA and GDPR attract penalties of up to 20 million euro ($22 million) or 4 percent of the organization’s annual revenue.
The blockchain solution also addresses streamlining data collection for medical research.
The previous medical data consent process was reportedly fastidious, unmanageable and opaque. The process limited the amount of data available for analysis, which slowed down the progress for new treatments. In addition, it was difficult for patients to withdraw or offer consent for medical research.
While commentating on the release, Bitfury’s CEO Valery Vavilov said:
“Bitfury is proud to work with Longenesis on this important project, which will return control of the medical consent process to the patient. This new blockchain solution will strengthen the process of collecting data and researching medical conditions, which could offer far-reaching benefits to people all over the world.”
Longenesis is already testing this solution with a few industry partners. The system is designed to apply to many organizations including hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, genome sequencing companies, CROs, and insurance companies.
Garri Zmudze, CEO of Longenesis, said, “Efficient and auditable consent management mechanism is key for ensuring legal soundness of any healthcare record-based transactions.”
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