Skip to main content
Subscribe
  • Sign Up Free
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • News
    • Current News
    • Providers
    • Insurance
    • Government
    • Finance
    • Technology
    • Safety & Quality
    • Digital Health
    • Transformation
    • ESG
    • People
    • Regional News
    • Digital Edition (Web Version)
    • Patients
    • Operations
    • Care Delivery
    • Payment
    • Midwest
    • Northeast
    • South
    • West
  • Blogs
    • AI
    • Deals
    • Layoff Tracker
    • HIMSS 2023
  • Opinion
    • Breaking Bias
    • Commentaries
    • Letters
    • From the Editor
  • Events & Awards
    • Awards
    • Conferences
    • Galas
    • Virtual Briefings
    • Webinars
    • Nominate/Eligibility
    • 100 Most Influential People
    • 50 Most Influential Clinical Executives
    • Best Places to Work in Healthcare
    • Excellence in Governance
    • Health Care Hall of Fame
    • Healthcare Marketing Impact Awards
    • Top 25 Emerging Leaders
    • Top Innovators
    • Diversity in Healthcare
      • - Luminaries
      • - Top 25 Diversity Leaders
      • - Leaders to Watch
    • Women in Healthcare
      • - Luminaries
      • - Top 25 Women Leaders
      • - Women to Watch
    • Digital Health Transformation Summit
    • ESG: The Implementation Imperative Summit
    • Leadership Symposium
    • Social Determinants of Health Symposium
    • Women Leaders in Healthcare Conference
    • Best Places to Work Awards Gala
    • Health Care Hall of Fame Gala
    • Top 25 Diversity Leaders Gala
    • Top 25 Women Leaders Gala
    • - Hospital of the Future
    • - Value Based Care
    • - Hospital at Home
    • - Workplace of the Future
    • - AI and Digital Health
    • - Future of Staffing
    • - Hospital of the Future (Fall)
  • Multimedia
    • Podcast - Beyond the Byline
    • Sponsored Podcast - Healthcare Insider
    • Sponsored Video Series - One on One
    • Sponsored Video Series - Checking In with Dan Peres
  • Data & Insights
    • Data & Insights Home
    • Hospital Financials
    • Staffing & Compensation
    • Quality & Safety
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Data Archive
    • Resource Guide: By the Numbers
    • Surveys
    • Data Points
  • Newsletters
  • MORE+
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise
    • Media Kit
    • Jobs
    • People on the Move
    • Reprints & Licensing
MENU
Breadcrumb
  1. Home
  2. Finance
December 15, 2017 11:00 PM

Hospital execs remain wary of bitcoin as the currency goes mainstream

Rachel Z. Arndt
  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email
  • More
    Reprints Print

    If there's one thing healthcare folks know about bitcoin, it's that the cryptocurrency can be used for paying ransom. The poorly understood currency is how many organizations have paid to get their data back from the hackers who sneak into their IT systems and encrypt it.

    THE TAKEAWAY

    Bitcoin futures recently launched on a mainstream exchange. But the healthcare industry has been slow to adopt the cryptocurrency for anything more than paying ransom for breached data.

    Meanwhile, outside the industry, bitcoin has gone mainstream, as futures for the cryptocurrency became available for the first time in a big, regulated market. A day after the Cboe Futures Exchange opened the derivatives to trading on Dec. 10, bitcoin futures were up 20%, with bitcoin itself up 1,600% in 2017. The digital currency was worth about $17,000 last week.

    But the healthcare industry remains wary of the blockchain-based money, which has long been a mainstay of the dark web, the part of the internet made up of anonymously run websites not indexed by search engines and accessible only through special browsers, such as Tor. There, bitcoin is used to anonymously purchase, among other things, the very data that hackers steal for ransom payable in bitcoin.

    Early in 2016, for instance, Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center in Los Angeles paid $17,000 in bitcoin to hackers to regain access to its IT systems. And in the middle of 2017, hackers demanded $300 in bitcoin from each organization hit by the WannaCry ransomware.

    Indeed, paying ransom is a key use for bitcoin, said Dr. Christopher Longhurst, chief information officer at UC San Diego Health.

    Security experts recommend not paying ransom, but that's sometimes not an option for organizations crippled by lack of access to their data. "There are more than I would like to see doing it, but I understand why they're doing it—they're doing it because sometimes it's cheaper to pay the ransom than it is to deal with the days being down," said Mac McMillan, CEO of privacy and cybersecurity consulting firm CynergisTek.

    To get bitcoin, affected organizations can turn to "several legitimate security firms that can purchase and transact organizations in the event of a ransomware infection," said Adam Malone, director of cybersecurity and privacy for PwC U.S.

    Other than that, the currency is not yet very common in healthcare. "It's like any new technology," said Dr. John Halamka, CIO at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. "There has to be an urgency to change." He wondered what, exactly, healthcare could use bitcoin for. "If we just think of bitcoin as yet another form of foreign currency, I don't think we accept any foreign currencies." But, he said, he could stretch to see bitcoin as a way to make anonymous payments to preserve patient privacy.

    Some healthcare organizations already accept bitcoin as payment. A New York City cosmetic surgery practice called Bodysculpt, for instance, began accepting bitcoin in November 2017. "The goal is to provide privacy and anonymity for patients," according to a Bodysculpt news release.

    But the vast majority of healthcare organizations today don't accept the cryptocurrency. While their interest in bitcoin itself may be minimal, their interest in the technology behind it, on the other hand, has been greater, as startups tout blockchain-based solutions for revenue cycle and even electronic health records.

    Blockchain, the technology that supports bitcoin, is essentially a decentralized, open record of transactions. With both finances and patient records, blockchain theoretically allows for greater efficiency and security.

    "When done correctly, the general safety and security of blockchain is a lot greater than any other system we have in place," said Brian Becker, an associate in Nixon Peabody's business and finance department.

    For EHRs, blockchain could be used to point to all of a patient's records and to changes in those records, opening up data for greater interoperability. "There are obvious benefits to decentralized storage of health information, as long as you can be confident in the security of it," said Michael Morgan, head of McDermott Will and Emery's global privacy and cybersecurity practice. "There's an obvious value proposition in that context."

    On the financial side, bitcoin might be used for claims processing and secure payment transactions, as is the case with Change Healthcare's technology, which the company says will make claims processing more efficient.

    "There's all kinds of applications for blockchain in terms of providing that peer-to-peer audit that allows you to digitally track the interactions between users and devices," McMillan said. "But the coin itself—I'm not sure. … Bitcoin was created to be able to buy things, and there aren't many businesses today yet that literally buy and sell services over the web using bitcoin."

    Letter
    to the
    Editor

    Send us a letter

    Have an opinion about this story? Click here to submit a Letter to the Editor, and we may publish it in print.

    Recommended for You
    Copy of states hospital costs_WEB_i.jpg
    Mark Cuban-backed study finds price discrepancies in hospital services
    transparency rx
    PBMs form Transparency-Rx to push for drug pricing reform
    Most Popular
    1
    CMS tries luring providers to revamped Medicare ACOs
    2
    Oregon joins other states in setting ratios for nurse staffing
    3
    Blue Shield CA taps Amazon, Mark Cuban, CVS for new PBM model
    4
    A health innovation hub grows in Lake Nona Medical City
    5
    Hospital-at-home providers push for Medicaid coverage
    Sponsored Content
    Daily Finance Newsletter: Sign up to receive daily news and data that has a direct impact on the business and financing of healthcare.
    Get Newsletters

    Sign up for enewsletters and alerts to receive breaking news and in-depth coverage of healthcare events and trends, as they happen, right to your inbox.

    Subscribe Today
    MH Magazine Cover

    MH magazine offers content that sheds light on healthcare leaders’ complex choices and touch points—from strategy, governance, leadership development and finance to operations, clinical care, and marketing.

    Subscribe
    Connect with Us
    • LinkedIn
    • Twitter
    • Facebook
    • RSS

    Our Mission

    Modern Healthcare empowers industry leaders to succeed by providing unbiased reporting of the news, insights, analysis and data.

    Contact Us

    (877) 812-1581

    Email us

     

    Resources
    • Contact Us
    • Help Center
    • Advertise with Us
    • Ad Choices
    • Sitemap
    Editorial Dept
    • Submission Guidelines
    • Code of Ethics
    • Awards
    • About Us
    Legal
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • Privacy Request
    Modern Healthcare
    Copyright © 1996-2023. Crain Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
    • News
      • Current News
      • Providers
      • Insurance
      • Government
      • Finance
      • Technology
      • Safety & Quality
      • Digital Health
      • Transformation
        • Patients
        • Operations
        • Care Delivery
        • Payment
      • ESG
      • People
      • Regional News
        • Midwest
        • Northeast
        • South
        • West
      • Digital Edition (Web Version)
    • Blogs
      • AI
      • Deals
      • Layoff Tracker
      • HIMSS 2023
    • Opinion
      • Breaking Bias
      • Commentaries
      • Letters
      • From the Editor
    • Events & Awards
      • Awards
        • Nominate/Eligibility
        • 100 Most Influential People
        • 50 Most Influential Clinical Executives
        • Best Places to Work in Healthcare
        • Excellence in Governance
        • Health Care Hall of Fame
        • Healthcare Marketing Impact Awards
        • Top 25 Emerging Leaders
        • Top Innovators
        • Diversity in Healthcare
          • - Luminaries
          • - Top 25 Diversity Leaders
          • - Leaders to Watch
        • Women in Healthcare
          • - Luminaries
          • - Top 25 Women Leaders
          • - Women to Watch
      • Conferences
        • Digital Health Transformation Summit
        • ESG: The Implementation Imperative Summit
        • Leadership Symposium
        • Social Determinants of Health Symposium
        • Women Leaders in Healthcare Conference
      • Galas
        • Best Places to Work Awards Gala
        • Health Care Hall of Fame Gala
        • Top 25 Diversity Leaders Gala
        • Top 25 Women Leaders Gala
      • Virtual Briefings
        • - Hospital of the Future
        • - Value Based Care
        • - Hospital at Home
        • - Workplace of the Future
        • - AI and Digital Health
        • - Future of Staffing
        • - Hospital of the Future (Fall)
      • Webinars
    • Multimedia
      • Podcast - Beyond the Byline
      • Sponsored Podcast - Healthcare Insider
      • Sponsored Video Series - One on One
      • Sponsored Video Series - Checking In with Dan Peres
    • Data & Insights
      • Data & Insights Home
      • Hospital Financials
      • Staffing & Compensation
      • Quality & Safety
      • Mergers & Acquisitions
      • Data Archive
      • Resource Guide: By the Numbers
      • Surveys
      • Data Points
    • Newsletters
    • MORE+
      • Contact Us
      • Advertise
      • Media Kit
      • Jobs
      • People on the Move
      • Reprints & Licensing