Last Updated on November 7, 2022 by HassanShabeer
New use cases are developing in this third iteration of the web due to the slow and gradual transition from the centralized web 2.0 to the decentralized web3. One such sector where web3 is finding several practical uses in healthcare.
Everywhere we look, we are witnessing examples of web 2.0 utilization. When the second version of the internet appeared, it brought cutting-edge technology into healthcare, including telemedicine, electronic health records, and healthcare apps. The human species has benefited from these technologies, yet many things are in danger when they are used. Due to the centralized servers’ lack of transparency, our data is often in need of fixing. Anyone with access may quickly alter, amend, or remove the data. This is a significant issue in healthcare and among clients of healthcare facilities. But with web3, this is not the case.
Web3 in healthcare is transforming patient data management and facilitating the maintenance of well-organized medical records. Numerous services and solutions are being developed daily by web3 development companies for the healthcare industry. It demonstrates the development and use of web3 in healthcare.
As a result, Web3 for healthcare is advantageous and offers a variety of use cases, including tracking down phony medications, data security, metaverse procedures, and more. Here are some examples of web3’s applications in the healthcare industry.
What is Web3?
Web2 in Healthcare
Web3 in Healthcare
What is Web3?
The third version of the internet, Web3, allows people to own and manage their data. Web3 creates a decentralized environment where data is dispersed, and no central authority interferes with user data management, in contrast to the controlled ecosystem of the current web 2.0. Web3 is a solution to the problems that the current web, often known as the read-write web, has with centralization, censorship, data leakage, and other issues.
With blockchain technology, the read-write-own web3 creates a permissionless, peer-to-peer environment. The users may make use of the following advantages.
- Ownership
- Censorship opposition
- Autonomously decentralized organizations (DAOs)
- Identity as a Sovereign Self
- Tribal Payments
Web3 for healthcare may provide all the advantages mentioned above and more. Let’s examine the relationship between web3 and healthcare.
Web 2.0 in Healthcare
Healthcare 2.0 refers to the medical technology that appeared with web 2.0 in the middle of the 2000s. Health 2.0 transformed the traditional healthcare delivery model into a more efficient one. It used various technological platforms to provide patients access and control over their information, including telemedicine, linked health, mHealth, and more.
With web 2.0, patients may monitor their health history and assess their health using platforms and apps for healthcare. Several programs may monitor your physical and mental well-being, including those for monitoring your dietary intakes like MyFitnessPal, hydration like Waterlogged, exercise and workout sessions, yoga and meditation like Down Dog, and mental health like Talkspace, and much more.
To enhance health care systems, experiences, and results via the integration of patients and stakeholders, health 2.0 is described as “participatory health care characterized by the capacity to communicate, categorize, and summarise individual health information swiftly.” Social networking, openness, involvement, and cooperation inside and across user groups are made possible by web 2.0 solutions for the healthcare industry. Through health-related websites or portals, Electronic Health Records (EHR), virtual communities and online support groups, home care and chronic disease management systems, and telemedicine and teleconsultation applications, it significantly advanced the conventional e-health model that first appeared in the 1900s. Additionally, it made healthcare more accessible to rural areas.
It had faults even if it revolutionized the healthcare industry and the system. It presents several security risks and information vulnerabilities. Cybersecurity assaults might target healthcare businesses with poorly secured websites, web servers, and databases. Cybercriminals and hackers are always looking for vulnerable databases for which they can exploit and demand a ransom.
Data encryption, which might put your organization in danger, should be one of several technological security precautions that healthcare institutions with access to electronically Protected Health Information (ePHI) should have. Outdated medical equipment and systems, lack of defined cybersecurity rules and processes, and not being cyber-aware may potentially create data susceptibility.
Web 2.0 has improved the healthcare system, but it has also increased concerns related to data security and other problems. Therefore, the introduction of web3 is a huge relief for the healthcare industry. After learning the fundamentals of web3, let’s see how web3 in the health sector might help the industry.
Web3 in Healthcare
Web3 in healthcare is fantastic since it innovates the medical industry.
The following three elements of web3 have the potential to transform the healthcare sector:
Web3 is based on blockchain technology, a distributed, encrypted database that enables safe data storage and transmission that only the data’s owner may access.
Metaverse is a virtual environment that uses several different technologies, including virtual reality, augmented reality, blockchain, and more, to provide consumers with an immersive experience.
Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) are unique, irreplaceable tokens allowed by the blockchain to track real or digital assets.
The immutable digital ledger technology of blockchain, the heart of web3, allows healthcare providers to keep patient information safe. Because this data is spread out across different nodes, it can’t be changed or messed with. On the other hand, a metaverse may make telemedicine and teleconsultation, two forms of digital healthcare, more interesting and lifelike.
Similar to NFTs, web3’s blockchain-based tokens give its user’s ownership rights. Distributing ownership to people allows the healthcare ecosystem to be patient-centric and decentralizes data. This represents a significant change in healthcare.
Conclusion
Web3 can fundamentally alter the healthcare industry. It may decentralize the system and return data control to the users, who ought to have been the original data owners. The healthcare behemoths, who now own the data, are free to do anything they want. They may even sell it to other people to make enormous profits secretly.
Web3 integration in healthcare may assist in maintaining a structured data management system and return control of data to consumers. The distributed, tailored, and traceable data kept in Web3 will make the healthcare ecosystem transparent, approachable, and affordable.
A metaverse development company can assist you in realizing your dream of creating a web3 application for your healthcare organization.
