Groves Medical Group in the UK will become the first medical practice in Britain to accept cryptocurrency payments from patients. The practice, which serves 30,000 patients at four locations, has part
Groves Medical Group in the UK will become the first medical practice in Britain to accept cryptocurrency payments from patients. The practice, which serves 30,000 patients at four locations, has partnered with blockchain startup Medicalchain to launch a pilot program in July.
Under the arrangement, Groves patients will gain access to a free digital wallet that stores their medical records on the blockchain. They can use the same wallet to book video consultations with doctors and pay for services using MedTokens, Medicalchain's token.
Medicalchain built its platform to remove friction from how medical data flows between patients, physicians, hospitals, labs and insurers. The blockchain also enables the company to connect researchers with patients who want to contribute their anonymized health data in exchange for token rewards.
Dr Vince Grippaudo, a senior partner at Groves, framed the partnership as a way to relieve pressure on the UK's health system. "We believe that by empowering people to choose how they access healthcare, we can reduce the burden on public health services. The goal is to improve health services, not only in the UK but across the world, and with Medicalchain we believe we can be a part of that," he said.
Feedback from the Groves pilot will inform Medicalchain's expansion plans. The company has scheduled test launches in China, Japan and South Korea for later this year and plans to launch globally in early 2019. Medicalchain raised $24 million through an initial coin offering last month to fund development.
Medicalchain competes in a growing field of blockchain healthcare ventures. The MediLedger Project, created by LinkLab and Chronicled, launched last year to increase traceability of prescription drugs and transparency in pharmaceutical supply chains. SimplyVital Health, which launched in February 2017, developed ConnectingCare, a platform that lets hospitals and clinics from different healthcare organizations access the same patient data.
