The role of smart contracts in information sharing : insights from the Norwegian home health care system

Abstract

Smart contracts are one of the business and organizational areas where blockchain technology is thought to have a major potential impact.Smart contracts can be a secure method to technologically ensure that a certain action is followed by other agreed-upon transactions.Payment transactions for contract bindings might be the first go-to thought in this regard, also considering that blockchain technology's most significant impact until now has been through cryptocurrencies.And yet, so many other aspects of organizational processes rely upon transactions between different organizational units.There might not be a flow of currencies, and the value driver might be the flow of correct, on-time information.Such is the case when patients are released from a hospital to the organizations that provide home care in the Norwegian health care system.The health care professionals in home care need the right information to be able to provide the necessary care and medication.There is an ongoing ITprogram in the Norwegian health care system called AKSON, with the goal of one patientone journal.This article sheds light on opportunities regarding the potential use of smart contracts-technology in the Akson program, for information sharing when patients are transferred from hospital to home-care.