OSF Healthcare, a U.S. provider that serves more than 900,000 people a year, is researching the use of blockchain and cryptocurrency to incentivize people to stick to medical advice. A 2014 study in the U.S. estimated avoidable health costs from non-adherence are as much as $100 to $300 billion a year. For example, around half of people with heart conditions don’t stick to their programs. However, as we’ll see, incentivizing compliance is a controversial topic.
OSF is working as part of a research collaboration with the University of Illinois, a Jump Arches program exploring using a mobile app to reward patients with blockchain-based rewards. They might receive an incentive when they do their exercises, take their medicine or perform other health-related activities.
The system will explore using Zero Knowledge Proofs, encrypting data to maintain anonymity, so there’s no data leakage about who is providing the incentive or receiving the reward. For example, without knowing a person’s name, there might be a zero knowledge proof that can verify that a person has a cardiac condition and hence be compensated for the activity.
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