Healthcare transaction validation via blockchain systems and methods
Healthcare transaction validation systems and methods are presented. Healthcare transactions associated with a stakeholder are compiled into a chain of healthcare transaction blocks. The chain can be considered a chronicle of person's healthcare path through life. When a transaction is conducted, the corresponding healthcare parameters (e.g., inputs, outputs, clinical evidence, outcomes, etc.) are sent to one or more validation devices. The devices establish a validity of the transaction and generate a new block via a proof-of-work principle. Once the new block has been calculated it can be appended to the stakeholder's health care blockchain.
1. A method of validating healthcare transactions, the method comprising:
receiving, by a validation client processor, at least one healthcare transaction comprising at least one encrypted pointer to at least one electronic medical record in one or more data formats regarding one or more healthcare actions taken with respect to at least one healthcare stakeholder wherein the at least one encrypted pointer conforms to an address space used by a plurality of distributed nodes across a computer network operable for storing the at least one electronic medical record;
obtaining, by the validation client processor, a historical block identifier from a healthcare historical blockchain representative of historical healthcare actions taken with respect to the at least one healthcare stakeholder;
obtaining, by the validation client processor via a healthcare historical blockchain name service (HNS), healthcare transaction data regarding the one or more healthcare actions from the at least one electronic medical record, wherein the healthcare transaction data is obtained based on providing the encrypted pointer to the HNS;
receiving, by the validation client processor, a validity requirement, wherein the validity requirement describes criteria to be satisfied before a validity block for the healthcare transaction can be generated;
determining, by the validation client processor, a format of the healthcare transaction data, wherein the validation client processor converts the format of the healthcare transaction data into a presentation format if the healthcare transaction data is not readable;
generating, by the validation client processor and in accordance with the validity requirement, the validity block for the at least one healthcare transaction, wherein the validity block comprises the at least one healthcare transaction, and wherein the validity block is generated as a function of at least the following healthcare parameters: the historical block identifier and the healthcare transaction data;
after the validity requirement is satisfied, transmitting the validity block to one or more other validation client processors for verification; and
updating the healthcare historical blockchain and a locally stored healthcare historical blockchain with the validity block when a predetermined number of the one or more other validation client processors verify the validity block.
2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising creating the healthcare historical blockchain from the healthcare transaction data.
3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the healthcare historical blockchain depends on a birth token.
4. The method of claim 2 , wherein the validity block comprises at least one parent token and the healthcare historical blockchain depends on the at least one parent token.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the healthcare stakeholder includes at least one of the following: a patient, a care provider, a technician, a payer, a broker, and a guardian.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the healthcare transaction data comprise standardized codes.
7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the standardized codes include at least one of the following: an International Classification of Diseases (ICD) code, a Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) code, and a Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) code.
8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the electronic medical record comprises at least one of the following: a test result, a genetic code, a diagnosis, a prognosis, a patient identifier, a caregiver identifier, a fee, and a payer identifier.
9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of obtaining the historical block identifier includes obtaining at least a portion of the healthcare historical blockchain over a network.
10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the network comprises a distributed network of peer validation devices.
11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the validity requirement comprises a proof-of-work difficulty.
12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the validity requirement comprises at least two factors that depend on a validity token.
13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the validity block is generated as a function of a digital signature of a validator, the digital signature of the validator utilizing at least one of the following: a validator ID, a validator address, a validator public key, and a validator private key.
14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of generating the validity block includes applying a first hash as the function to the healthcare transaction data.
15. The method of claim 14 , further comprising applying at least a second hash to the results from the first hash.
16. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first hash is selected from the group consisting of: SHA, Scrypt, MD5, RIPEMD, and WHIRLPOOL.
17. The method of claim 1 , wherein the historical block identifier comprises a hash of a header of a previous block in the blockchain.
18. The method of claim 17 , wherein the hash of the header of the previous block is of a last block added to the historical blockchain.
19. The method of claim 1 , further comprising configuring a server to operate as the validation device.
20. The method of claim 19 , further comprising configuring the server to operate a peer within a validation network of validation devices.
21. The method of claim 1 , further comprising presenting a validator interface via a mobile device, the validator interface configured to accept a validity token.
22. The method of claim 1 , wherein the validation client processor comprises at least one of a clinical operating system device or an electronic medical record exchange system.
23. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of calculating the validity block for at least the healthcare transaction includes calculating the validity block from multiple healthcare transactions.
24. The method of claim 23 , further comprising combining the multiple transactions into the validity block.
25. The method of claim 1 , further comprising receiving a digital redeemable token in exchange for confirmation of the validity block as part of the healthcare historical blockchain.
26. The method of claim 25 , wherein the redeemable token includes at least one of the following: a coupon, a virtual currency, a fiat currency, and a service.
27. A computer program product for validating at least one healthcare transaction, comprising one or more machine-readable instructions stored in a non-transitory computer readable medium, wherein the one or more machine-readable instructions, upon execution by at least one processor, perform processing comprising:
receiving, by a validation client processor, at least one healthcare transaction comprising at least one encrypted pointer to at least one electronic medical record in one or more data formats regarding one or more healthcare actions taken with respect to at least one healthcare stakeholder wherein the at least one encrypted pointer conforms to an address space used by a plurality of distributed nodes across a computer network operable for storing the at least one electronic medical record;
obtaining, by the validation client processor, a historical block identifier from a healthcare historical blockchain representative of historical healthcare actions taken with respect to the healthcare stakeholder;
obtaining, by the validation client processor via a healthcare historical blockchain name service (HNS), healthcare transaction data regarding the one or more healthcare actions from the at least one electronic medical record, wherein the healthcare transaction data is obtained based on providing the encrypted pointer to the HNS;
receiving, by the validation client processor, a validity requirement, wherein the validity requirement describes criteria to be satisfied before a validity block for the healthcare transaction is generated;
determining, by the validation client processor, a format of the healthcare transaction data, wherein the validation client processor converts the format of the healthcare transaction data into a presentation format if the healthcare transaction data is not readable;
generating, by the validation client processor and in accordance with the validity requirement, the validity block for the at least one healthcare transaction, wherein the validity block comprises the at least one healthcare transaction, and wherein the validity block is generated as a function of at least the following healthcare parameters: the historical block identifier and the healthcare transaction data; and
after the validity requirement is satisfied, transmitting the validity block to one or more other validation client processors for validation; and
updating the healthcare historical blockchain and a locally stored healthcare historical blockchain with the validity block when a predetermined number of the one or more other validation client processors verify the validity block.