Solving Healthcare and Life Sciences Challenges by Enhancing Audit Trails with Verified Credentials Using Oracle Blockchain: Equideum Health's GRANBY LAKE Project

Introduction

In the complex world of healthcare and life sciences, Equideum Health's GRANBY LAKE project is poised to address critical issues. These include a lack of full context, diverse, longitudinal data sets, transparency of how data is used and by whom, and trustworthy, immutable audit visibility.  Importantly, removal of key identifiers and other data contextual elements from data sets makes it impossible to  perform advanced analytics and in the context of -omics data, removing key data elements changes what the data represents. These are just a few of the problems we are solving within this industry and GRANBY LAKE, with its blockchain infrastructure powered by Oracle Blockchain Platform (OBP). Developed as a core component of Equideum Health’s Data Integrity and Learning Network (DILN) service for the Veterans Incentivized Coordination and Integration (VICI) initiative, and in conjunction with Dixon Center for Military and Veterans Services, GRANBY LAKE ​will connect the dots for veterans on their healthcare journey by creating an interlocking auditable trail of ​granular healthcare data transactions​ – such as matching to available clinical trials or using full-context identified data to train a trusted AI model – in each case capturing the veteran’s cryptographically verifiable consent. 

Addressing Healthcare and Life Sciences Challenges

In healthcare and life sciences, there’s a great need for sharing data to improve care outcomes and facilitate life sciences research. Privacy regulations, including HIPAA, require secure and immutable audit trails of consent, which are challenging to obtain and maintain using current methods. GRANBY LAKE emerges as the solution to this challenge, providing a reliable platform to record audit events for sharing data and granting consent with unparalleled trustworthiness and ease. This platform is designed to instill confidence in data integrity, ensuring compliance, transparency, and accountability within the healtcare and life sciences industries.

Oracle's Blockchain Solves Ledger Scaling Challenges

One of the key infrastructural challenges in deploying a distributed ledger technology for audit trails includes the realistic scaling of the blockchain service, and here is where Oracle’s blockchain excels. OBP seamlessly enables rapid scaling across organizations using global cloud regions and enables cross-ledger interoperability more easily and proficiently than other enabling blockchain services, which is why GRANBY LAKE can natively accommodate growing demands in a dynamic industry with leading edge technology. It is a crucial piece of the puzzle that positions us for success.

Benefits of OBP for Cross-Cloud and Cross-Chain Interoperability

OBP's true value extends beyond just geographical scalability, it also can facilitate cross-chain interoperability with atomicity at the infrastructure layer. This capability aligns perfectly with our long-term strategy. As the healthcare and life sciences industry includes a complex ecosystem of participating providers, payors, and pharmaceutical companies, interoperability becomes indispensable. OBP's cross-chain capabilities and focus on interoperability allow GRANBY LAKE to integrate seamlessly with other blockchain protocols, ensuring data flows efficiently and securely across the ecosystem.

Oracle's ​achievements in cross-cloud and hybrid cloud​ interoperability are invaluable assets. Running our blockchain ​nodes using managed Blockchain-as-a-Service offering of the OCI Blockchain Platform (OBP) positions us strongly for ​global scale. With more than 40 OCI regions globally, we can deploy resources closer to end users for faster access that satisfies local regulatory compliance and data residency requirements. OBP Enterprise Edition is a container-based version of OBP that is deployable on-premises or in 3rd party cloud data centers. This notably accelerates our ability ​to ease onboarding ​Data Integrity and Learning Network (​D​ILN) ​participating ​​entities (DPEs) ​that may already be users of any existing commercial or government clouds. This approach ensures that Equideum Health remains agile and adaptable in a rapidly changing technological landscape.

Ensuring Immutability with Verified Credentials using Oracle Blockchain

A pivotal moment in the GRANBY LAKE project was the decision to implement ​the Oracle Blockchain​ Platform. Renowned as a market-leading blockchain platform, Oracle Blockchain is preferred for its security, scalability, and resilience. The collaboration between Equideum Health and Oracle has brought us closer to unlocking the full potential of decentralized audit systems for healthcare delivery and life sciences research.

Through the adoption of Oracle Blockchain​ Platform, GRANBY LAKE now possesses the capability to securely hash-pin audit events via a smart contract residing within the OBP network of instances. A core innovation within the GRANBY LAKE project is the introduction of Verifiable Credentials. Audit events are no longer mere records; they are transformed into irrefutable pieces of evidence based on cryptographically verifiable claims. Equideum Health recognizes the critical significance of data integrity in audit processes, and Verifiable Credentials serve as the bedrock for creating a trustless and dependable auditing ecosystem. This innovative approach guarantees the secure and immutable recording of audit events on the blockchain, rendering them tamper-proof and verifiable. 

Roadmap for Advancements

Looking ahead at our collaboration with Oracle, our roadmap includes exciting advancements, such as Zero-Knowledge Proofs (ZKPs) and other privacy-preserving capabilities for Verified Credentials and audit methods. We are deeply engaged in the intersection of public-private hybrid data models that offer flexibility to our users, while maintaining security and privacy compliance standards. These initiatives underscore our commitment to continuously enhancing the GRANBY LAKE project and staying at the forefront of innovation.

Conclusion

Equideum Health's GRANBY LAKE project, powered by Oracle Blockchain Platform, not only addresses critical challenges in healthcare and life sciences but also positions us for long-term success. With a focus on our scalable infrastructure, cross-chain interoperability, and a strong foundation in Oracle's cloud offerings, we are well prepared to shape the future of audit trails in our industry. As we embark on this journey, our commitment to innovation and improvement remains unwavering, ensuring that we deliver the best possible solutions to our stakeholders.

For more information, contact Heather Flannery at heather.flannery@equideum.com.