Biomedical·Blockchain
host: biomedicalblockchain.org Independent biomedical blockchain research and directory

An independent research library for biomedical blockchain

This site maps how distributed ledger and verifiable data techniques are being applied across healthcare and biomedical research. The focus is practical: where the approach genuinely helps, where it adds friction, and how to read claims made by projects in the space without taking marketing language at face value.

The site combines a research observatory, a structured directory of project categories, and reference material on identity, consent, audit trails, and clinical data integrity. It is educational in purpose. It does not provide medical advice, investment advice, or endorsement of any project.

Where blockchain genuinely earns its place in healthcare

Most healthcare workflows do not need a blockchain. A relational database with proper access controls, an enterprise audit log, and a real interoperability standard handle the majority of practical problems. The interesting cases are narrower than the headlines suggest. They tend to cluster around four properties: multiple parties that do not fully trust each other, the need for tamper-evident history, the desirability of verifiable timing, and the awkward presence of identifiers that have to be shared between organisations without exposing the underlying data.

When those properties line up, ledger-style infrastructure can be useful. Provenance records for clinical trial events. Verifiable credentials for clinicians moving between systems. Consent receipts that survive a vendor change. Track-and-trace for high-value pharmaceuticals. The work in the field is less about replacing the electronic health record and more about putting better metadata around it.

For a fuller treatment of where the approach holds up under pressure, the biomedical blockchain landscape note covers practical implementations alongside biomedical blockchain with practical implementations drawn from the peer-reviewed literature.

Industry focus categories

The directory is organised around how a project actually functions inside the healthcare data stack. Categories are deliberately narrow so a project does not get rated against unrelated goals.

  • claims and payment workflows

    Claims and payment workflows

    Adjudication, prior authorisation, provider settlement, and audit trails that need verifiable timing and counterparties.

  • clinical trials

    Clinical trials

    Protocol versioning, consent capture, eCRF integrity, and chain-of-custody for trial events.

  • consent and access management

    Consent and access management

    Patient-driven authorisation flows, granular access scopes, and revocation audit logs.

  • data audit and compliance infrastructure

    Data audit and compliance infrastructure

    Tamper-evident logs, internal compliance reporting, and reproducible audit packages.

  • electronic health records

    Electronic health records

    EHR access logs, cross-institution exchange pointers, and provenance metadata rather than raw clinical records on chain.

  • genomic data

    Genomic data

    Consent-bound access to sequencing data, research participation tracking, and incentive design without raw genomes on chain.

  • patient data marketplaces

    Patient data marketplaces

    Models for compensating patients or research participants while protecting identifiability and downstream use.

  • patient identity

    Patient identity

    Decentralised identifiers, verifiable credentials, and identity proofing aligned to clinical workflows.

  • provider credentialing

    Provider credentialing

    Verifiable clinician credentials, licensure status, and continuing education records.

  • public health registries

    Public health registries

    Notifiable disease reporting, vaccination records, and registry interoperability.

  • research data provenance

    Research data provenance

    Reproducibility, instrument output hashing, and protocol-aligned data lineage.

  • healthcare supply chain

    Healthcare supply chain

    Track-and-trace for pharmaceuticals, devices, and reagents across multi-party logistics.

See the focus taxonomy view for the directory layout, or jump straight into the companies list sorted by focus.

Research notes

The research section is editorial rather than promotional. Each note works through a single question the field tends to fudge.

Browse all research notes

Use case directory

If you are trying to understand a project's actual job, start from the use case rather than the marketing page.

  • Use case

    Electronic health records

    Access logs, consent pointers, and exchange metadata around existing EHR systems.

  • Use case

    Clinical trials

    Protocol versioning, randomisation integrity, and timestamped trial events.

  • Use case

    Genomics

    Consent-bound access to sequencing data and research participation tracking.

  • Use case

    Patient identity

    Decentralised identifiers and verifiable credentials inside clinical workflows.

  • Use case

    Consent management

    Granular, revocable authorisation flows with auditable history.

  • Use case

    Healthcare supply chain

    Track-and-trace for pharmaceuticals, devices, and reagents.

  • Use case

    Research data provenance

    Reproducible lineage from instrument output to published result.

How the directory is built

The methodology page explains how projects are categorised, why some entries remain at the category level rather than as named profiles, and how confidence labels are assigned. The short version: claims that cannot be confirmed from primary material are not promoted to confirmed status, regardless of how much press a project has received.

Updates happen on a rolling basis as material is reviewed. Submissions and corrections are welcome via the submission page.