MintHealth, a San Diego-based startup, unveiled a blockchain-based decentralized personal health record Oct. 26.
MintHealth plans to roll out the platform to commercial payers to help engage patients with chronic conditions, such as heart failure, diabetes and hypertension. Patients will be able to set up a self-sovereign personal health record online or via a mobile app, for which they control data access. Blockchain technology also enables the platform to collect data from various providers.
To enhance patient engagement, the company's personal health record uses machine learning to help users identify and manage risk factors for disease, such as sedentary behavior, tobacco use and poor nutrition. It also awards digital incentives for healthy behaviors, which can be used to receive discounts on premiums, co-pays and other healthcare-related expenses.
MintHealth also plans to release a companion tool for healthcare providers to help patients manage their care.
"While the idea of promoting wellness to improve health is not new, previous efforts have failed because of siloed clinical and behavioral data, the inability to incentivize patient behaviors and the lack of a platform that aligns patients, providers and payers around patient empowerment," said Samir Damani, MD, CEO and co-founder of MintHealth.