Gem Teams Up with Philips Blockchain Lab to Launch Gem Health Network

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by Tatsiana Yablonskaya · 3 min read
Gem Teams Up with Philips Blockchain Lab to Launch Gem Health Network
Gem team. Photo: Gem

Gem aims at development of cryptographically secured universal network of medical information.

Blockchain technology platform Gem has a strong belief in the importance of healthcare and the potential of modern technologies. So it launches Gem Health, a blockchain network for the global community of companies and individuals that take part in the continuum of care.

Philips’ Blockchain Lab becomes the first partner of the initiative but Gem is planning to continue partnering with technology companies, financial institutions, consultancy firms and care providers.

Gem Health aims at development of a private network for developing enterprise healthcare applications. “Blockchain technology will create a new fabric that connects the entire healthcare industry, weaving together critical data from every stage of the continuum of care,” said Micah Winkelspecht, founder and CEO of Gem.

“Blockchains address the trade-off between data availability and data security. For healthcare, this enables hospitals, insurance companies and labs to connect in real-time and share information instantly and seamlessly – without exposing those channels to theft or forgery.”

Medical data is very sensible but today it is stored discretely which prevents doctors and patients from building a complete record of health. Gem offers blockchain as the best solution for the creation of universal network that is both cryptographically secured and relayed across a vast distribution network.

Gem has developed operating system GemOS capable of access, request, programme, store, and authentication of data on blockchain. Besides, Gem creates and supports applications for domain specific use cases.

“Disconnected agents – within an organisation or across an entire industry – can now securely converge on the same information,” said Winkelspecht. “This will enable a new class of applications that will unlock wasted resources and solve problems in ways we never thought possible.”

The first partner of Gem Health, Philips Blockchain Lab, located in Amsterdam, was launched this year after six months of exploratory research into blockchain technology. It is fully focused on the distributed ledger with Philips IT experts, healthcare professionals, partners and blockchain developers uniting their efforts to study and explore potential use cases of the blockchain technology.

It is not the first time that Philips expresses intention to study and apply blockchain. In October 2015 it teamed up with the blockchain startup Tierion to investigate the technology behind bitcoin and its possible applications in the healthcare sector. Tierion offers a simple way of collecting information and storing it in the bitcoin blockchain to help its clients to protect their data by offering. With the new partnership, Philips Healthcare expects to accelerate the process of modernizing patient health care.

Philips comes out into the open about its interest in cutting-edge technologies: “As a company committed to innovation you need to constantly explore new and emerging technologies and their application in areas where they might have an impact and added value.”

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