Mint Health: How Blockchain and Incentives Will Improve Patient Behaviors and Clinical Outcomes

Dec 12, 2017

By Samir Damani, Founder and CEO, MintHealth

In my last article, I introduced the topic of blockchain and healthcare, and its potential for bringing much needed data liquidity to healthcare. I wrote it prior to speaking at the recent Connected Health Conference in Boston.

At the meeting, I introduced our company, MintHealth, and how we’ll be using blockchain, and our native token incentive--Vidamints, which incentivizes proactive patient behaviors, to improve population health outcomes and lower costs for insurance carriers. The epidemic rise in the prevalence of heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and obesity and the costs associated in caring for patients with these conditions is a threat to the sustainability of all government and non-government payers of healthcare.

I spoke with dozens of people over two days and there was tremendous curiosity around blockchain and particular interest in MintHealth’s unique approach. For this article, we’ll take a closer look at how these exciting technologies can be applied.

As outlined before, we are in the midst of a chronic disease epidemic. Each year, around 40 million people die from chronic conditions, like diabetes and heart disease. Although these conditions are largely preventable, many still put themselves at risk through poor food choices, sedentary lifestyles, excessive alcohol use, medication non-compliance, and smoking. In addition, patients with chronic conditions may see a physician only every three to six months, largely ignoring their condition(s) in between visits. Data clearly show that patients who are engaged have better outcomes, but we haven’t given them the means to do so.

In fact, for those who want to be more engaged, the system puts up roadblocks. Patients often have limited access to the medical information in their electronic health record (EHR). If they want to see a specialist in a different network, it’s unlikely the two siloed EHRs even talk to each other. If they have any personal devices, like a FitBit, or use an app like myfitnesspal, it is unlikely that data has been incorporated into their health record. Their medical imaging including their x-rays, CT scans, and more are also spread across disparate record keeping systems increasing redundancy of testing and incomplete treatment plans by doctors who don’t have access to the whole picture.  

MintHealth sees a different future: offer patients immediate access to their own, self-sovereign, portable medical records and incentivize them to improve their health.

Blockchain tech, a decentralized transaction ledger overlaid on an open sourced peer-to-peer network allows for the near real-time transfer of any records or information. While the technology has been popularized in cryptocurrency, namely bitcoin, the application of blockchain in healthcare is a stronger use case due to existing silo’d patient data streams within legacy clinical and administrative electronic health record systems. Blockchain is adaptable, portable and, most importantly, secure, thereby allowing all patient clinical, imaging, and behavioral data to be seamlessly and securely transferred from patient to doctor, to caregivers, and back.

Let’s consider a fictional patient, Adam, who is overweight and prediabetic. In the MintHealth universe, Adam owns his health records, which are secured and accessed through blockchain. The great thing about blockchain is that everyone in the network is watching – any attempt to hack Adam’s data completely disrupts the blocks and becomes immediately evident. Adam has complete access to his lab results, imaging and other tests.

If he visits an cardiologist, he shares a cryptographic key, giving his provider access to his labs, medications, and blood pressure  levels that he measured on his own in his iHealth app. His cardiologist is also able to see his echocardiogram images, which shows that his heart muscle is slightly enlarged from years of high BP. The doctor is then able to prescribe a higher dose of the BP med to address the high BP readings the patient has been experiencing when outside of the office. It doesn’t matter if his specialists and primary care physician are on different EHRs, as the MintHealth platform is completely agnostic.

If Adam gets an x-ray at any facility, he can easily share that image with any provider through NucleusHealth, a platform partner of MintHealth. He does not have to drive to an office and pick up a DVD, nor does he risk the data being unavailable and having to repeat the x-ray.

In addition, Adam has given blockchain access to his insurance company, which is incentivizing him to adopt healthier habits. If he completes a minimum number of steps, views a diabetes webinar, or measures his glucose, he receives tokens called Vidamints, which can be exchanged for lower premiums or other rewards. In short--Adam is healthier, he pays less premiums, and the insurance company has healthier members, ultimately improving their return.

Furthermore, because he controls and owns the data, Adam can share it with whomever he sees fit. If a pharmaceutical company want to understand how he responds to a particular drug, he can allow them access and receive Vidamints for his participation. Researchers can leverage data from Adam, and thousands of others to study population health.

A growing body of literature has shown that social and financial incentives, along with gamification can drive healthier habits. MintHealth was designed with these features, so Adam becomes an active participant in his own care. The end result is clear: Adam is healthier, his records are portable and the appropriate people and organizations have access when necessary. Healthcare costs go down, duplicated tests are reduced and research is empowered. It’s a win for everyone.

We’re thrilled to bring MintHealth to market and want everyone to know how it works. We’ve published an extensive white paper outlining the MintHealth vision and how Vidamints will work for you. Download the white paper at http://www.vidamints.io.