Blockchain Venture Partners with Spectrum, WellCare to Tackle Credentialing

The goal is to reduce the time and cost associated with verifying professional credentials by facilitating the secure exchange of verified information among members.

Anyone in the healthcare industry who provides patient care or pays for it knows that credentialing for healthcare professionals can be a pain, often taking up to six months. That's the problem a blockchain-based pilot project said it aims to solve in partnership with major health plans and providers.

WellCare Health Plans, which serves about 5.5 million members, and Spectrum Health, a 12-hospital nonprofit system in western Michigan, are among the five organizations participating in the distributed-ledger program, the companies announced last week.

Known as the Professional Credentials Exchange, the project is being developed by ProCredEx, a company with backing from Hashed Health. The goal is to reduce the time and cost associated with verifying professional credentials by facilitating the secure exchange of verified information among members.

"A fundamental component of developing the exchange lays in building a network of members that bring significant verified credential datasets to the marketplace," said ProCredEx cofounder and CEO Anthony Begando in a statement.

"Over the coming months, we intend to grow the Partner Program in a manner that diversifies our member base and grows the volume of verified credentials data available within the exchange," Begando added.

Matthew Denenberg, MD, vice president of medical affairs for Spectrum Health, said this pilot could enable the health system to accelerate into the domains to which healthcare is shifting.

"We are excited to be participating in this network and look forward to addressing the long-standing challenges credentialing presents to our business and our expansion into growth areas such as telemedicine and outpatient care," Denenberg said in the statement.