Hybrid distributed ledger blockchain platform Kadena LLC today announced the launch of an open-source distributed app that will allow any healthcare professional to submit results privately from tests related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The dApp is now generally available on Kadena’s testnet. No previous experience with blockchain technology is required to use the dApp and developers who want to implement and access data stored on it can do so without needing to use Kadena’s tokens or a crypto wallet.

Furthermore, the COVID-19 test result tracking app is designed to follow the standards for HIPAA health rules compliance and also provides storage for encrypted personal healthcare information.

The blockchain will form a foundation to record test results and maintain them in a secure manner. A blockchain can provide trustworthy historical proof that test results, once submitted, have been unchanged, including the exact time of submission.

Health providers can submit results to the blockchain via the dApp by scanning a Quick Response code on the testing kit. That opens the data entry portion of the dApp, which then securely records patient information.

The dApp then associates the QR code, test kit information, patient information and test results in a secure database that is then linked with Kadena’s blockchain platform. All of that data can then be securely accessed using a universal standard by other healthcare professionals in order to examine an individual patient’s record or in aggregate to understand the pandemic better.

No personally identifiable patient information is accessible to unauthorized parties through the use of blockchain security and cryptography. Kadena’s blockchain includes advanced cryptographic security that hashes any information added to the blockchain only allowing access by parties with the cryptographic keys to unlock the data.

Kadena hopes that by combining strict privacy and security for personally identifiable information for patients with a trustworthy historical record of results will give healthcare researchers the data they need to study the COVID-19 pandemic. The data can help academics and government officials better understand how the virus is spreading demographically.

According to the World Health Organization situation report on the pandemic, as of June 24, there have been more than 9 million COVID-19 cases worldwide with over 473,000 deaths associated with the disease. Most of the cases have been detected in the Americas. The presence of COVID-19 has led to numerous responses by countries, including overwhelmed healthcare systems, stretched supply lines, city shutdowns and mask mandates.

Although still nascent, blockchain startups and industry leaders have begun to put the technology to work to help deal with the pandemic. For example, ConsenSys Health, a healthcare-related spinoff of blockchain solutions company ConsenSys, recently ran a COVID-19 hackathon in April.  Also during April, IBM Corp. launched the IBM Rapid Supplier Connect blockchain that would use the technology to help relieve shortages in medical supply chains by allowing suppliers to get an overview of industry networks and better reach out to suppliers.

Public health officials interested in being part of the Kadena COVID-19 test tracking program can contact Kadena at covid@kadena.io for authorization.

Image: Kadena