Insurers discuss sharing of medical data via blockchain, but privacy concerns remain

Insurance companies are looking into the possibility of sharing medical data of policyholders with one another using a blockchain. However, protection of customer privacy is a factor that has been dragged into the discussions and they will now have to get a go-ahead from the insurance regulator on this matter.

The discussions, which have been on for almost eight months, are around using one customer's medical records across insurers. Using blockchain technology for this will ensure that the data is encrypted and also reduce the turnaround time for policy issuances.

“Customers will not be required to do multiple medical tests once their health data is available over blockchain. This will save costs and also enable seamless and secure sharing of data,” said a senior life insurance executive.

An average medical test costs Rs 1,800.

Blockchain is a process whereby a series of records (blocks) are interlinked using cryptography. Each block contains a record of the previous block and also has a timestamp and details of the transaction.

Using a blockchain, multiple people can make entries into the series of the information. Further, the community of users can control the changes made in those records.

Typically, for policies above a certain threshold, medical tests are conducted to determine how healthy a prospective customer is. Only if he/she is found to be healthy does the insurer accept them as a policyholder.

Two large IT-services companies have already made presentations on the back-end support and management of the infrastructure of the blockchain. About 20 life insurers have agreed to share data with each other.

Privacy

Now the insurers are discussing steps to be taken to ensure that customer privacy is not tampered with. A draft bill on data protection, prepared by a Justice BK Srikrishna-led panel, was released in July.

The bill clarified 'sensitive personal data' as any information on a person's ethnicity, sexual orientation, finances, passwords, caste, biometric data, health and official identifiers. Since health is on the list, any violations of privacy in this segment could be a serious offence once the bill becomes a law.

So, insurers will need to seek explicit consent from the individuals on the data being shared. Further, insurers will also have to inform the insured about how and where the health data will be used.