Healthcare complexity and costs can be decreased through the application of blockchain technology to medical records and insurance companies. Estonia has taken a leadership role in blockchain based services both in the commercial sector and in government. The Estonian government’s innovation strategy was to create GovTech partnerships to implement blockchain based technologies throughout the country, and become a global leader in the technology. Starting in 2011, just 3 years after Satoshi Nakamoto published the first description of distributed ledgers and blockchain technology, the Estonian Government started partnering with the private technology startup company Guardtime to use blockchains to secure public and internal records. Then in 2016, Estonia once again reinforced its global leadership in blockchain technology when it announced it would use blockchain technology to secure the health records of over a million citizens. Estonia’s systematic method of applying blockchain technologies through GovTech partnerships demnostrates how innovation is a process. Estonia also identified early the value of the blockchain as a disruptive platform innovation. The application of blockchain technology to healthcare is a radical innovation given that nearly all previous applications have been in the financial and legal sectors.

Healthcare complexity and costs can be decreased through the application of blockchain technology to medical records and insurance companies. Estonia has taken a leadership role in blockchain based services both in the commercial sector and in government. The Estonian government’s innovation strategy was to create GovTech partnerships to implement blockchain based technologies throughout the country, and become a global leader in the technology. Starting in 2011, just 3 years after Satoshi Nakamoto published the first description of distributed ledgers and blockchain technology, the Estonian Government started partnering with the private technology startup company Guardtime to use blockchains to secure public and internal records. Then in 2016, Estonia once again reinforced its global leadership in blockchain technology when it announced it would use blockchain technology to secure the health records of over a million citizens. Estonia’s systematic method of applying blockchain technologies through GovTech partnerships demnostrates how innovation is a process. Estonia also identified early the value of the blockchain as a disruptive platform innovation. The application of blockchain technology to healthcare is a radical innovation given that nearly all previous applications have been in the financial and legal sectors.

Blockchain technology can be utilized to improve gun control without changing existing laws. Firearm related mortality is at epidemic levels in the United States and not only has a significant impact upon public health, it also creates a large financial burden. Suicide is the most common way guns kill. Through better gun tracking and improved screening of high risk individuals, this technological advance in distributed ledger technology will improve background checks on individuals and tracing of guns used in crimes.

Blockchain technology has great potential to revolutionize healthcare data management. The technology is sufficiently complex, however, making it essential that a large number of people with a broad range of skills will be required to implement the technology. Innovation clusters will be the primary means of producing blockchain breakthroughs in healthcare by bringing together computer scientists, medical experts, and business people in the pursuit of a common goal. Healthcare innovation clusters are most likely to be centered around medical universities, but will also include in close geographic proximity technology, business, and medical insurance organizations.