Five healthcare organisations are teaming up on a blockchain project aimed at addressing the issues relating to care provider data.

Humana, MultiPlan, Quest Diagnostics, UnitedHealth Group’s Optum, and UnitedHealthcare are launching a pilot program which will involve applying blockchain technology to improve data quality and reduce administrative costs associated with changes to health care provider demographic data.

Currently, managed care organizations, health systems, physicians, diagnostic information service providers and other healthcare stakeholders maintain separate copies of healthcare provider data. This could result in time-intensive and expensive reconciliation processes when differences arise.

The pilot program will seek to assess blockchain’s potential to address these issues. It will examine how blockchain-based data sharing across healthcare organizations could improve data accuracy, streamline administration, and improve access to care.

“The pilot will also address the high cost of health care provider data management, testing the premise that administrative costs and data quality can be improved by sharing provider data inputs and changes made by different parties across a blockchain, potentially reducing operational costs while improving data quality,” the press release stated.

The project partners will explore how blockchain could help ensure the most current healthcare provider information is available in health plan provider directories.