The solution to that huge pile of patient-generated data, blocked and stymied in those non-interoperable EHRs [TTA 15 Mar], may be a system based on blockchain. DeepMind, Alphabet’s AI ‘skunk works’, is building a tool that it calls Verifiable Data Audit. It will be tested first in UK hospitals with which DeepMind is already working, including London’s Royal Free Hospital. What VDA will do is use cryptographic math to keep an accurate record of data used in the past to see exactly who is using health-care records, and for what purpose. When data is used, it generates a code based on all past activity. Any alteration to one part of the data alters the others and is quick to spot.

The UK test results will be interesting because, according to the MIT Technology Review article, patient records are considered to be highly fragmented. Another issue that DeepMind had in the UK was the NHS oversharing data with it for other projects, such as AI systems to diagnose eye disease, early warning signs of illness, and machine-learning approaches to guide cancer treatment. The VDA approach would, ironically, create an audit trail of that data. Another reason why we may be moving from Data Despare to Hope. Hat tip to contributor Sarianne Gruber of RCM Answers.