The Convergence of EDI, Blockchain, and Big Data in Health Care

Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) has been a trusted form of communication standard for numerous industries since the 1970's. EDI is used for the exchange of data between two or more entities using an agreed upon EDI standard. With the plethora of data being generated across industries and research, the reliance on technologies such as EDI is more significant than ever. For an industry dealing with sensitive information such as health care, the parameters of security and reliability are of the utmost importance. A traditional EDI protocol provides a structured mechanism for data sharing between a sender and receiver creating pockets of disconnected data across the health care network. With the advent of blockchain there is now a more complete way to connect all these pockets of data. Blockchain is a distributed ledger that can be accessed by any entity, who has been granted access, to the blockchain. Every partner on the blockchain can see the most current data between all partners removing the typical delays and mishandling of data. By coupling together an industry standard such as EDI with blockchain creates a system that can allow for continued use of a trusted system but revolutionize it with ease of access for everyone involved. Creating an end-to-end data mechanism will not only generate more data, but more complete data since it will include data from every entity in the network on a distributed ledger. While blockchain in health care is not a new idea what this paper is proposing is the next step in this trend by looking at how big data analytics can be used along with the improved data transmission system. With the more complete data that would be generated from an EDI and blockchain system big data will be able to make better predictions, and even open the door to some completely new ways of analyzing data. The objective of this paper is to outline the current technologies and explore some possibilities for how integrating these technologies could benefit any industry, but more specifically health care.