What you should know: The artificial intelligence unit of IBM’s Watson Health is collaborating with the US Food and Drug Administration to research on the possibility of using blockchain to share patient data securely. It will try to exchange patient data from numerous sources like wearables, genomic data, electronic medical records, Internet of Things, health data from smartphones, and clinical trials. It will first explore the use of blockchain on oncology-related data.
Why it is important: Medical practitioners can manage population health by using big data. Through blockchain, they can obtain the needed patient data in a secure manner.
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