Can you explain what Solve.Care is?

Solve.Care offers a new decentralized healthcare model, where all stakeholders, from the patient, physician, insurance companies, care coordinators, healthcare institutions, and so on, have a better and more direct peer-to-peer relationship.
It is a model where patients are empowered to have sovereignty over their healthcare data, giving them control over their healthcare journey. The current model that protects centralized healthcare systems around the world fails to serve the needs of the patient and the doctor in a manner that can be fundamentally improved via blockchain.
Solve.Care is a global healthcare platform that redefines care coordination, improves access to care, reduces benefit administration costs, and helps reduce fraud and waste across the healthcare sector globally.
Its interoperable, composable, full-stack platform is the first in the world to successfully deploy digital currency and blockchain technology for value-based healthcare payments. Upon this platform, multiple Care Networks are built and operated to create an ecosystem for patient-centric care based on medical conditions, economic and social needs, and other tailored eligibility criteria.

In short, our mission is to make healthcare work better for our parents, children, society, business, and the global economy.

Solve.Care is built on blockchain; what are the benefits of blockchain technology to a potential Solve.Care user and the broader healthcare industry?

Utilizing blockchain technology in healthcare makes the administrative, care delivery, and payment processes transparent. It reduces fraud and the administrative burdens on the doctor and on the insurer, and indeed for the patient to do a co-payment.
Blockchain technology eliminates the time consuming and wasteful processes that are currently in place in any given centralized system in place across the world.
The auditability, immutability, transparency, and encryption of blockchain allow for more efficient, effective, secure, and transparent credential management processes.

Similarly, blockchain technology allows the user or patient full autonomy over their data. The Solve.Care platform is designed to address these issues in a fully automated fashion. Consent management, data management, and compliance become largely or fully automated and auditable when stored on a blockchain.
This principle of transparency and automation in data ownership, digital consents, and payments will change how healthcare is administered. Using blockchain technology in the healthcare industry allows medical professionals to take more time to focus on their patients and deliver quality care.

What do you see as the biggest barriers stopping people from accessing affordable healthcare?

Some of the biggest barriers to healthcare come down to geographical location and the cost of healthcare. There exists a serious inequity in healthcare around the world.
An individual’s quality of healthcare is often determined by their postcode: for example, an individual in New York city will likely receive far greater and easier access to healthcare then an individual in Sub-Saharan Africa. People are forced to spend significant resources to travel in order to receive medical attention, particularly in rural areas. Similarly, the cost of healthcare is a huge barrier in accessing healthcare. Due to high demand, healthcare providers are able to hike up the prices for their services, which for individuals from a lower socio-economic background is out of reach.

By using blockchain technology in healthcare, decentralized finance (DeFi) can offer an uncomplicated solution. DeFi facilitates the rapid sharing of funds across the world which allows money to be sent instantly in an emergency, unlike centralized finance, which currently presents a lot of barriers which stop physicians from having immediate access to funds.
DeFi also can facilitate lower interest rates, and loans increase capital flows, which in turn can bring down the cost of healthcare.

Has the Covid-19 pandemic increased the necessity of using blockchain technology in healthcare?

The COVID-19 pandemic has shown us that there is a need to rethink how we approach healthcare, but it has also shown us that when presented with a seemingly insurmountable challenge, there is a propensity to overcome it by adapting. The COVID-19 pandemic has also made patients more aware of the possibilities of digital health and telemedicine. As a result of the increase in telemedicine from the pandemic, physicians have realized that technology can be a great ally in times of great need. It gives physicians more time to focus on the delivery of care. For example, a study conducted by Becker’s Hospital Review found that prior to the pandemic, roughly 43% of Americans believed that they could receive the same level of treatment through telehealth platforms instead of in person consultations, whereas now, this figure is nearly 80%.

Covid-19 has, however, exposed massive vulnerabilities and inequities in the global healthcare system. Current systems are centralized which is leading to a slower, less efficient delivery of healthcare. The majority of healthcare providers’ efforts, costs, disputes, and frustrations are caused by many different factors such as consent management, data management, and compliance with various administrative and clinical protocols which add to the already burdensome processes that take place within the healthcare industry.

By shifting our approach, we can bring the processes that dominate the healthcare industry into the 21st century, while ensuring that patients are empowered. Blockchain technology can act as the coordination fabric to revolutionize these processes, but also to provide patients with control and ownership of their data, which is also of increasing concern within the industry.

Solve.Care’s Global Telehealth Exchange recently expanded to the Indian market, can you tell us more about Global Telehealth Exchange?

Our recently launched Global Telehealth Exchange (GTHE) enables patients to easily access healthcare services anywhere in the world. GTHE was created to remove barriers for anyone seeking healthcare. Patients will no longer be limited by their physical or geographical barriers when accessing quality healthcare. Users of the GTHE be able to connect with practitioners anywhere in the world through their mobile devices.

The GTHE provides physicians who wish to practice telemedicine the opportunity to be listed on a global decentralized blockchain registry, as opposed to a centralized system. Once a physician is listed, they can publish their profiles, rates, availability and appointments. Its automated features minimize most administrative work, allowing physicians to focus on practising medicine and save on the time spent dealing with insurance companies or facing delays in payment.

As it is an open system, third party telehealth solutions will have the ability to access this registry as well. With a patient's consent, doctors are able to access a patient's past medical records, eliminating the time wasted conducting repeat assessments and unnecessary medical tests. All records and transactions are stored on the blockchain, meaning users of GTHE can rest assured that their records are secure.

Currently, information processes in India’s healthcare system lack trust and data security, which draws great concern from physicians and patients. By incorporating blockchain technology, India’s healthcare system would benefit greatly as it would ensure enhanced transparency and security of transactions made within the healthcare system. Our move to expand the GTHE to the Indian market is another step we have taken to drive the much-needed change in the current healthcare system, which will hopefully increase equality of access and equality of care.

In addition to India, GTHE is now available in 20 countries across 5 continents. It is our intention to making GTHE available in every single country in the world. All payments in GTHE uses the SOLVE token as currency which streamlines the payment processes to doctors practising on the network, no matter where they are located in the world.