%0 Journal Article %J Technology Innovation Management Review %D 2017 %T Hitching Healthcare to the Chain: An Introduction to Blockchain Technology in the Healthcare Sector %A Mark A. Engelhardt %K blockchain %K distributed ledger %K health %K patient-centred care %K trust %X Health services must balance patient care with information privacy, access, and completeness. The massive scale of the healthcare industry also amplifies the importance of cost control. The promise of blockchain technology in health services, combined with application layers built atop it, is to be a mechanism that provides utmost privacy while ensuring that appropriate users can easily add to and access a permanent record of information. Blockchains, also called distributed ledgers, enable a combination of cost reduction and increased accessibility to information by connecting stakeholders directly without requirements for third-party brokers, potentially giving better results at lower costs. New ventures are looking to apply blockchain technology to solve real-world problems, including efforts to track public health, centralize research data, monitor and fulfill prescriptions, lower administrative overheads, and organize patient data from an increasing number of inputs. Here, concrete examples of the application of blockchain technology in the health sector are described, touching on near-term promise and challenges. %B Technology Innovation Management Review %I Talent First Network %C Ottawa %V 7 %P 22-34 %8 10/2017 %G eng %U http://timreview.ca/article/1111 %N 10 %1 Ovodenovo Intellectual Property Consulting Mark Engelhardt holds a PhD from Stanford University in the United States and is a partner at Ovodenovo Intellectual Property Consulting, a full-service patent agency in Ottawa, Canada, where he combines multidisciplinary experience in biological and computational science with experience in intellectual property to help small- and medium-sized companies succeed and to help investors understand technology. He has a passion for non-profit work, and is currently supporting the Ottawa Youth Orchestra Academy as president of their board of directors. Connect through LinkedIn to chat about blockchain technology, intellectual property, non-profit work, and the interesting places they might intersect in the future. %R http://doi.org/10.22215/timreview/1111