Care Parrot is promising to redefine the doctor-patient relationship and help to remove some of the previous barriers to patient care that exist within the current health care system. In specific, Care Parrot is focusing on three critical issues:
- The shortage of doctors in the current healthcare system.
- The obstacles surrounding health care access in parts of the world.
- Payment system barriers (expense, errors, etc.)
- The first two are pretty bold statements, while the latter should be a familiar goal for those already associated with cryptocurrencies (by default they act as an entity that disrupts outdated payment models.)
We all know that we have a primary care physician shortage in the United States. The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) predicts a shortage of over 159,000 physicians within the next 15 years. So, how does Care Parrot propose to fix a shortage of doctors? Technologies can drive innovative solutions to all kinds of problems, but the shortage problem in the medical field feels a little more complex than online portals, right?
Care Parrot makes a compelling case for blockchain driven technologies disrupting critical stages of patient care barriers that reduce the overall efficiency of the healthcare chain. Furthermore, Care Parrot is addressing healthcare tourism in an optimal way – both promoting and attempting to restrict the overwhelmingly large (and often problematic) healthcare tourism industry.
Care Parrot wants to connect doctors and patients universally, without requiring costly (and sometimes dangerous) travel options. To do so, Care Parrot is looking to restructure the patient-doctor relationship portal – meaning that Care Parrot wants to reward patients and doctors for using communication-based online systems that are supported by both parties. In short, Care Parrot is looking to remove geographic boundaries that restrict health care access.
Blockchain Technology
The ecosystem that Care Parrot has set up may seem complex at first (and it certainly is to an extent) but it’s similar to some of the other structures we have seen coming out of community-based blockchain technologies. Most of their technology is driven by their app, Core Miner.
Core Miner
Core Miner acts as a node that logs users interactions within the Care Parrot online portal. This means that mining isn’t being done by expensive machines (i.e. like Bitcoin) but instead, every user interaction (communications, updating profiles, reviewing doctors, etc.) will result in an entry that will be a part of the overall chain that mines coins. Essentially, patients and doctors interacting on their platform will be generating currency simply by using the platform.
Each interaction will be a string (or a guess) and the correct guess will garner a CPX token (the Care Parrot coin.) The system then splits the winning on, what seems to be, a 55/40 split. So, the person who’s review or comment actually generated a coin gets half of the coin, while everyone else who input something to attempt to generate the coin with receive a portion of the remainder. In essence, it’s gamified like Bitcoin but driven by the community, not processing power.
The Purpose
Simplified, Care Parrot is looking to disrupt the overall architecture of the health care system, which currently has geographic boundaries. By giving patients access to a portal with a universal currency (CPX coins) they are hoping to eliminate boundary issues and create a space where medical professionals and patients can communicate effectively and meaningfully.
B2C Adopters
Here are two profiles of B2C adopters for this technology that we can think of immediately:
Doctors in a B2C Practice
Let’s define B2C practice here (since the complexities surrounding hospitals makes doctors who work there sort-of both B2C and B2B) as doctors who exist outside of a major hospital (i.e. doctors that can actually make the choice to use this platform.) For doctors, the benefits seem great. You have access to a wider patient base than ever before, your patients are communicating effectively, and you can access patients and patient information without seeing them in-person. Essentially, more profit (if it works) for you and less hassle.
It would look something like this:
You would use the Care Parrot platform. Whether this is an app or integrated into your existing system – we aren’t sure. But, once you were within the Care Parrot platform, you would have access to patients across the globe who could pay you using a universal currency. They would also be rewarded for communicating, reviewing, and accessing you.
Hospitals
For hospitals, the benefits aren’t as immediately noticeable. Switching to a universal currency may push patients to engage doctors outside of the United States (not that that’s not happening already,) but what it does do is gives hospitals an effective communication portal and the removal of costly payment gateways.
The removal of payment gateways is a big one for hospitals. This means less payment transaction fees and it reduces the overall pain of processing payments. It’s immediate, quick, and universal.
Conclusion
Care Parrot’s attempt to introduce some friction into the current healthcare space is as refreshing as it is brazen. Their overall blockchain structure looks “tight” and their actual adaptation of the technology is working so far. We think that Care Parrot will, at the very least, create a great space for customers to interact with foreign doctors while still remaining compliant with medical laws. It will also lift a lot of the danger surrounding travel and currency exchange.
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Brennan is a blockchain technical adviser in the healthcare sector and blockchain entrepreneur who has worked on developing proprietary concepts for both artificial intelligence and enterprise blockchain. He is a graduate of Rutgers University School of Health Professions where he earned a M.S. in biomedical informatics.
