Nashville-based Hashed Health, a group leading a consortium of companies interested in bringing blockchain distributed ledger technology to the U.S. healthcare system, today announced an initial funding round of $1.8 million.

The funding round was led by Martin Ventures and joined by Shanghai-based blockchain venture capital company Fenbushi Capital.

Blockchain technology can be used to provide a platform that can be used to secure and validate records. Healthcare records provide a powerful case for the need for security and validation, especially considering that privacy and health is on the line. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services approximately 87 percent of office-based physicians adopted electronic health record systems by 2015.

Healthcare records are fertile ground for blockchain-based technology. In early 2016, security and infrastructure technology company Guardtime AS partnered with the government of Estonia to build a blockchain-based e-Health solution. And earlier this year, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration sought the help of IBM Corp. to explore the use of blockchain technology to secure medical records and health data.

Hashed Health boasts over 50 years of experience in healthcare and information technology integrations. The company hopes to use the money raised to foster collaboration and lead research and development of blockchain technology use in the healthcare industry.

Founder and Chief Executive Officer John Bass said that he believes blockchain technology will be instrumental for “streamlining ineffective healthcare delivery models” and will help “address a range of well-known issues in healthcare.” Those issues surround how health records are stored and accessed, especially in light of privacy and how consumers themselves retain and access their own records.

Investors also hope to drive research into blockchain technology to reduce friction in information sharing, increase transparency in record-keeping and also reduce costs.

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