Women are underrepresented in the tech sector-myth or reality? In addition to the Women in Tech survey, we also launched a diversity series aimed at bringing the most inspirational and powerful women in the tech scene to your attention. Today, we’d like you to meet Chitra Ragavan, Chief Communications Officer at Gem.

Today we are talking about healthcare transformation, data and regulation with Micah Winkelspecht, CEO & Founder of Gem, ahead of a presentation later today which is being hosted by the Chamber of Digital Commerce in conjunction with the Congressional Blockchain Caucus:

Hi Micah – Welcome to Chain Reaction. So, blockchain technology is perhaps not the easiest thing to explain to newcomers. As a regular public speaker, how do you go about explaining it to a non-technical audience and which types of arguments and examples do you find to be the most effective?

There are four simple things that will lead America out of the Obamacare box. These clues are hidden in the old English folk rhyme about the charms for a bride to wear on her wedding day to bring good luck: “Something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue.”

Do Republican legislators wish to be able to again attend town hall meetings without meeting torch-and-pitchfork wielding constituents? Does President Trump wish to secure his re-election prospects? If so, take heed.

As pressure mounts on Republicans to overhaul the Affordable Care Act (ACA), blockchain advocates are hoping bullish modifications to the law could provide a springboard for the adoption of distributed ledger tech.

Since the 2009 passage of the ACA – colloquially known as ‘Obamacare‘ – the US healthcare system has continued to grapple with the escalating spending, inefficiencies and antiquated systems that prompted calls for reform in the first place.

Los Angeles is a massive, segmented city where loyalties to individual neighborhoods run deep. This dedication to individual parts of LA often translates into the world of business, with different companies swearing one part of LA is the perfect place to operate a business, while others claim another. We talked with startups across the city to find out what they think is best about their neighborhood.

Across the healthcare ecosystem, IT leaders at patient care organizations are still grappling with the critical issues of seamlessly exchanging health data across systems and also being able to properly secure it. Indeed, although the healthcare industry is behind most other sectors when it comes to interoperability and security, newfound optimism has emerged in the form of a technology that potentially can help solve both of these challenges—blockchain.

Capital One worked with Gem (a company whose tagline is to make complex data sharing simple) in late 2016 to deliver a successful prototype of the full life cycle of a medical claim on the blockchain. “We believe this technology – combined with our client-centric approach to understanding our clients’ needs – will not only help healthcare providers and payers more efficiently and securely manage healthcare claims, but also could be applied to other aspects of the healthcare revenue cycle to overcome system interoperability challenges that have been an industry pain point for decades.” Patrick Moore, Executive Vice President and Head of Capital One’s Treasury Management’s Product Management group.

Every year at Frost & Sullivan, the Transformational Health team brainstorm top predictions for the New Year to come. 2017 will definitely continue to be a year of tumultuous uncertainty and turbulence, but amidst this uncertainty we know for a fact that technology will continue to flourish and will have unprecedented impact on healthcare in terms of building some of the foundation blocks towards a connected home and healthcare ecosystem.

Revenue cycle management relies on transparent, real-time updates to any changes made to a claim as it travels through the billing process. Blockchain technology, a permanent log of online transactions or exchanges, is one method that can be used to help accomplish this.

Bitcoin, digital currency and blockchain technology experienced another explosive year in 2016. While bitcoin breached the all-time high in USD market cap, several new digital currencies claimed a place in the spotlights as well, while the blockchain buzz arguably peaked it all.