Humana, MultiPlan, Optum, Quest Diagnostics and UnitedHealthcare Launch Blockchain-Driven Effort to Tackle Care Provider Data Issues

Five leading health care organizations – Humana (NYSE: HUM), MultiPlan, Quest Diagnostics (NYSE: DGX) and UnitedHealth Group’s (NYSE: UNH) Optum and UnitedHealthcare announced on April 2^nd that they are launching a pilot program applying blockchain technology to improve data quality and reduce administrative costs associated with changes to health care provider demographic data, a critical, complex and difficult issue facing organizations across the health care system.

The companies will explore how the technology could help ensure the most current health care provider information is available in health plan provider directories. Providing consumers looking for care with accurate information when they need it is essential to a high-functioning overall health care system.  

Today, managed care organizations, health systems, physicians, diagnostic information service providers and other health care stakeholders typically maintain separate copies of health care provider data, which can result in time-intensive and expensive reconciliation processes when differences arise. Industry estimates indicate that $2.1 billion is spent annually across the health care system chasing and maintaining provider data.

The pilot will examine how sharing data across health care organizations on blockchain technology can improve data accuracy, streamline administration and improve access to care.

The pilot will also address the high cost of health care provider data management, testing the premise that administrative costs and data quality can be improved by sharing provider data inputs and changes made by different parties across a blockchain, potentially reducing operational costs while improving data quality.