Improving Opportunities in Healthcare Supply Chain Processes via the Internet of Things and Blockchain Technology

Abstract

Despite key advances in healthcare informatics and management, little progress to address supply chain process-related problems has been made to date. Specifically, key healthcare supply chain processes include product recalls, monitoring of product supply shortages, expiration, and counterfeits. Implementing and executing these processes in a trusted, secure, efficient, globally accessible and traceable manner is challenging due to the fragmented nature of the healthcare supply chain, which is prone to systemic errors and redundant efforts that may compromise patient safety and impact health outcomes adversely. Blockchain, combined with the Internet of things (IoT), is an emerging technology that can offer a practical solution to these challenges. Accordingly, IoT blockchain offers a superior way to track and trace products via a peer-to-peer distributed, secure, and shared ledger of the blockchain network. This article highlights key challenges related to healthcare supply chains, and illustrates how IoT blockchain technologies can play a role in overcoming these challenges now and in the near future.