AAIS collaborates with IBM to transform insurance regulatory reporting using blockchain

The AAIS openIDL (open Insurance Data Link) is the first open blockchain platform focused on the collection and sharing of statistical data between insurance carriers and regulators.

AAIS (American Association of Insurance Services), the only national not-for-profit insurance advisory organization, today introduced the openIDL (open Insurance Data Link), built on IBM Blockchain, to help automate insurance regulatory reporting. Using openIDL, AAIS will help streamline regulatory and compliance requirements while improving efficiency and accuracy for both insurers and state insurance departments, ultimately benefiting the entire industry, including policyholders.

AAIS is a not-for-profit advisory organization that consolidates and analyzes data to create loss reports and rating information for insurance carriers, as well as state insurance regulators. Insurance carrier data needs to be shared among multiple parties in a safe, secure manner. This is an ideal use of blockchain.

With openIDL, AAIS is updating an antiquated compliance process and pioneering an advanced method where insurers can contribute data directly onto a secure blockchain platform to satisfy state regulatory requirements. Data is stored on an immutable blockchain ledger where historical and current information is recorded. Regulators are provided permissioned access to view only the information they need. Participating carriers will also be able to see their own data profile to understand how they compare to the market. Ultimately, the goal of the openIDL is to turn expensive regulatory and compliance requirements into investments in operational efficiency and improved insights.

AAIS has established its own modern infrastructure and makes emerging technologies accessible to Members. Blockchain is ideally suited to large networks, such as the current AAIS membership base. According to AAIS CEO Ed Kelly, “We recognized the potential for blockchain to streamline the regulatory reporting process for our Member carriers, as well as the opportunity to improve security, accessibility and accuracy of data for regulators.”

IBM has deep expertise in the insurance industry and works with 95 percent of the world’s top insurers helping them adopt new platforms and technologies such as blockchain and enabling insurers to transform the way they do business. “Simplifying the process for insurance reporting using blockchain will create dynamic shifts in efficiency and provide the industry with new insights that will even benefit consumers. This is an exciting example of how blockchain can bring together an entire ecosystem of users and allow information to be shared in new ways to drive real business results. Hyperledger Fabric’s support for private and confidential transactions allows insurers to share data with the network, knowing that they own their data and have control over who has access to it,” said Sandip Patel, general manager, IBM Global Insurance Industry. “While the initial phase of the openIDL focuses on data sharing and regulatory reporting, the open platform provides a foundation for even broader innovation and new applications in the future, while providing full privacy and confidentiality protection among parties.”

The AAIS openIDL is built on the IBM Blockchain Platform on the open source Hyperledger Fabric. Currently in pilot, several major insurers are in the process of being onboarded to the blockchain platform to provide regulatory reporting data.

AAIS serves as the openIDL administrator, providing unbiased governance for the blockchain platform within existing insurance regulatory frameworks. AAIS Members may participate in the openIDL blockchain as part of their existing or new Program Affiliations. AAIS welcomes participation in the openIDL from across the insurance industry through Data Affiliation and Membership. Simply contact an AAIS Advisor for details, or visit www.openIDL.com to “get linked.”

Hu-manity.co Collaborates with IBM Blockchain on Consumer App to Manage Personal Data Property Rights

Global consent ledger to begin with healthcare data property rights in the United States and provide a digital title stored on the IBM Blockchain Platform

PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY AND ARMONK, NY – Hu-manity.co today announced it will use IBM’s (NYSE: IBM) Blockchain Platform as the foundational technology for its global consent ledger to help enable individuals to claim property rights to their personal data.

Hu-manity.co will allow people to control and manage consent, authorization and commercial use of their personal information via a permissioned blockchain-based data marketplace supporting millions of users.

Against a backdrop of growing concern around the misuse of personal information, human data — which includes healthcare records, geospatial location and media usage metrics — continues to grow exponentially. The human data marketplace is worth an estimated $150-200 billion annually*, but organizations do not have a global and scalable way to buy, use or sell this valuable information.

With a focus on data transparency, Hu-manity.co will use a blockchain network to put users at the center of the data economy and in control of managing and permissioning their own personal information. Through features like immutability and decentralization, blockchain makes it possible for organizations and individuals to interact in a more transparent manner. Coupled with technologies such as AI and advanced data encryption, blockchain is an ideal foundation for this global consent ledger.

Available starting today on Android devices in the United States, consumers can claim their human data rights via Hu-manity.co’s #My31 app built on IBM Blockchain. An iPhone version is expected to be available soon on Apple’s App Store. Upon claiming their data property rights, users receive a title of ownership, akin to a property deed. The 30 Human Rights ratified by the United Nations do not explicitly address human data rights, so the app is dubbed #My31 as an allusion to the “31st human right” – that everyone has the legal right to ownership of their inherent human data as property. The app provides people the ability to designate how their data can be shared, with whom, and under which circumstances, starting with healthcare data. Personal or medical data is not stored by Hu-manity.co; the data will remain wherever it currently is stored such as in a hospital electronic medical records system or by a research organization. However, the #My31 app will record a user’s property ownership as well as their data-sharing preferences.

For example, users can choose to share no information with third parties, or they may want to provide consent for use of their medical data for cancer research only. Users can also choose to lease their data to pharmaceutical companies or data aggregators but only upon receiving fair market compensation.

«IBM has long been focused on providing data stewardship which supports our belief that your data is your data,» said Bridget van Kralingen, senior vice president, IBM Global Industries, Platforms and Blockchain. “With new digital business models driving data sharing to unprecedented levels, we believe that blockchain can serve as a key ingredient to enhance trust and responsibility with regard to data. Our work with Hu-manity.co is a pioneering example of how permissioned blockchain can help balance individual rights with distributed data access at scale.

Individuals today lack the means to effectively control how their data is used by corporations and whether they receive compensation or alternative value when their personal data is commercialized. “By creating a global consent ledger built on the IBM Blockchain Platform, people, corporations, and the monetization of human data can co-exist sustainably,” said Richie Etwaru, Founder and CEO at Hu-manity.co. “People will enjoy greater levels of security, privacy, and control while corporations will be able to lawfully benefit from access to higher quality data that has the explicit consent and authorization of its rightful owner.”

The research value and insight from a patient record greatly increases when the patient consents explicitly to sharing it. “Explicitly consented records coupled with authorization of use is of tremendous value to the healthcare industry,” said R. “Ray” Wang, MPH, CEO at Constellation Research, Inc., and Hu-manity.co Advisory Board member. “It is not only ethically sound, it also accelerates key healthcare breakthroughs as we welcome this era of fair-trade data.”

Hu-manity.co intends to also collaborate with IBM to use the Sovrin Network in a pilot to help members of the Hu-manity ecosystem participate in the global self-sovereign identity network.  Sovrin Foundation and Hu-manity have a shared vision of creating a global standard network for identity that enables citizens to control all use of their personal information.

Hu-manity.co’s #My31 consumer app is available today on Android and expected to be available soon for iOS on Apple’s App Store. The enterprise solution for businesses who want to work with Hu-manity will be available to corporations starting in the healthcare industry in the first quarter of 2019. The Hu-manity.co global consent ledger is built on the IBM Blockchain Platform, powered by the Hyperledger Fabric and secured on the IBM Cloud.