Gaine Healthcare’s Coperor platform for master data management in both the healthcare and the life sciences/biotech space has proven capable of seamless integration with blockchain technology. This conclusion follows completion of a proof of concept (PoC) conducted in collaboration with Symblock BlockSecure.
“The heightened awareness of blockchain across the healthcare industry was not lost on us,” explains Martin Dunn, CEO of Gaine Healthcare.
“We were able to leverage some of our pre-existing research and development to add the capability to our widely adopted Coperor data management stack quickly and effectively. The successful completion of this pilot is an exciting development for Gaine, and we are proud that we continue to offer our customers the very latest in interoperability solutions.”
The PoC for Gaine Healthcare and Symblock
To complete the PoC, Gaine Healthcare partnered with Symblock, a decentralised healthcare solutions provider located in California’s Silicon Valley. The PoC saw Symblock’s BlockSecure integrated with Gaine’s Coperor data management platform. The latter is the underlying technology for several major provider data management collaborations. This includes the California state-wide Symphony Provider Directory.
Gaine and Symblock set out to prove that blockchain:
- can seamlessly integrate with traditional hub and spoke systems
- does not necessarily translate to a complete replacement of existing data management systems.
According to Brajesh Awasthi, CEO of Symblock, the pilot demonstrates that chain-based decentralized solutions can and should co-exist with existing systems and enable new processes. “I think that most people view blockchain as a disruptive technology, hellbent on taking over and replacing existing systems and infrastructure they already have in place. That really shouldn’t be the case. This collaboration allowed us to demonstrate the importance of the interoperability of systems and why both technologies matter, Coperor and BlockSecure. You don’t replace one with the other.”
What they demonstrated
Symblock and Gaine worked with each other to communicate changes in provider information between each of their respective technologies. The successful completion of the pilot means that any changes to provider information held on the BlockSecure decentralised provider directory shares immediately with Coperor.
The Coperor master data management system will link, map, and analyze the data against its current data, reference data, and other trusted sources to decide which information should ‘survive’. Once decided, the vetted information becomes the means to update the Master Record (or Single Source of Truth). Coperor sends the master record back to BlockSecure in near real-time. At this point its network participants may decide to:
- adopt the master record
- continue to use their preferred version of the information to share across the network.
The bi-directional between Coperor and BlockSecure blockchain technology is, the companies claim, a first of its kind for an extensive provider data management system. As plans, payers, provider groups and healthcare initiatives adopt one or more applications of blockchain technology internally, they now know they can integrate with existing integrations already linked to Coperor.
Awasthi commented: “We hope that those using Coperor, or other highly interoperable systems experience a sense of freedom to explore all future applications of blockchain, without worrying about how difficult and costly it would be to integrate or replace existing systems. You don’t have to replace one with the other where both are applicable.”
Enterprise Times: what does this mean
One of the challenges facing enterprise IT when considering blockchain, is how it can (indeed, if it can) work with existing IT investments. There has been a dearth of successful, publicised, examples of integration – which the Gaine Healthcare/Symblock PoC overcomes. Enterprise IT should delight, especially when this occurred in a technology arena as fraught with complexity as healthcare.
As Dunn has said: “Seamless integration with the latest developments in blockchain was important for us, as we recognize there are some use cases where blockchain has value. The goal for this project was instantaneous communication between the two technologies, and we were able to achieve it with relative ease.
“We have dispelled some of the mystery surrounding blockchain, and, where appropriate, we can integrate blockchain instances into our client’s environments with minimal fuss.”