How NFTs could transform health information exchange

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  • Kristin Kostick-Quenet
  • Kenneth D. Mandl
  • Minssen, Timo
  • Glenn Cohen
  • Urs Gasser
  • Isaac Kohane
  • Amy L. McGuire
Personal (sometimes called “protected”) health information (PHI) is highly valued (1) and will become centrally important as big data and machine learning move to the forefront of health care and translational research. The current health information exchange (HIE) market is dominated by commercial and (to a lesser extent) not-for-profit entities and typically excludes patients. This can serve to undermine trust and create incentives for sharing data (2). Patients have limited agency in deciding which of their data is shared, with whom, and under what conditions. Within this context, new forms of digital ownership can inspire a digital marketplace for patient-controlled health data. We argue that nonfungible tokens (NFTs) or NFT-like frameworks can help incentivize a more democratized, transparent, and efficient system for HIE in which patients participate in decisions about how and with whom their PHI is shared.
Original languageEnglish
JournalScience
Volume375
Issue number6580
Pages (from-to)500-502
Number of pages3
ISSN0036-8075
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2022

    Research areas

  • Faculty of Law - nonfungible tokens, health data, blockchain, smart contracts, cybersecurity, technology governance, data sharing, IP

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