Introducing Rhiza Health
Rhiza Health
0x7dc7
September 1st, 2022

Nothing is more powerful than an idea whose time has come. - Victor Hugo

In November of 2021, a community came together with the intent of using Web 3 technologies to buy one of the last remaining copies of the constitution. This group, the Constitution DAO, raised $47M in roughly a week, demonstrating how a Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) can quickly build a community that is a force to be reckoned with. Our broken healthcare system needs a community who focuses on improving healthcare through the application of decentralized (Web3) principles and technologies. Do you want to be part of the community that changes healthcare?

Rhiza Health formed to empower a community to create Web 3 protocols focused on enabling data exchange and administrative transactions. “Rhiza” pronounced (rye-za) in Greek means roots, and healthcare needs to lay down new technical “roots”. In the United States today, roughly $1 trillion of the $3.6 trillion spent each year is wasted (source). Roughly half of this waste, over $500 billion annually, is associated with pricing failure, fraud, abuse or administrative complexity. Decentralized technologies are well positioned to address these problems, but a community is needed to own and drive this much needed change. There are multiple ways to support this effort if you want to be part of the community that challenges systemic issues and brings Web 3 to Healthcare.

Problem/ Current State

The existing healthcare technology infrastructure in the United States is beyond repair and will not be fixed through incremental change. The United States is expected to spend $6.2 trillion by 2028 on healthcare expenses (source). Estimates indicate that simplifying the system in the U.S. could result in cost savings exceeding $350 billion annually. These inefficiencies represent at least 15% of healthcare spending (source) which translates to roughly $1570 for every man, woman and child in the United States (source).

Centralized (siloed) systems are a significant part of the problem but this is not simply a technology problem. Incentives of key stakeholders are also an issue as we learned by the now shuttered joint venture Haven, founded by Amazon, JP Morgan and Berkshire Hathaway.  “Largely, the venture failed to take off because the U.S. healthcare system is just too complex to be disrupted”, experts have said. “Haven also faced competition from entrenched players in the healthcare system, and despite their size and reach, the three companies had trouble obtaining necessary data that could help them better control costs, the Wall Street Journal reported in January, citing people familiar with the project's budget.

Currently, there are over 1 million providers (doctors, pharmacists, etc.), 900+ health insurance companies, 300+ electronic medical record companies, and numerous other companies that have a need to exchange healthcare data. A shared infrastructure for healthcare companies to efficiently exchange information does not exist today. Data exchange occurs through inefficient intermediaries (clearing houses) or direct connections that are difficult to scale, operate and maintain. An analysis completed by CAQH in 2021 looked at healthcare administrative transactions, such as medical claims processing, and found that these transactions account for $42B in annual cost. They reviewed the manual administrative transactions such as paper, phone and fax, and projected that moving these transactions to a digital channel represents a saving of $20B, and that is just one example of the significant opportunities for improvement in healthcare. Decentralized technologies (Web3) are positioned well to empower a community to disrupt these existing processes and deliver Web3 powered healthcare capabilities.

Rhiza Health

Rhiza is the Greek word for root. Healthcare needs a new underlying technical foundation- it needs new roots. Rhiza is building healthcare focused Web 3 protocols that are open, secure, privacy protecting, community governed and global. Rhiza Health will transition to operate as a DAO, today it is legally a For Public Benefit Delaware corporation. The Rhiza Health team is building a community that is focused on creating a set of protocols that decentralize healthcare administrative transactions and facilitate data exchange.

We are all familiar with the networks offered by VISA and ACH that enable financial transactions. Healthcare needs something similar, and decentralized technologies are positioned well to power this new network. Exchange of data and access to logic is significantly more efficient than we we see today with the intermediaries and silos. Ownership can also be decentralized so the healthcare community can own and operate these new protocols. This shared ownership offers an opportunity to replace rent seeking intermediaries with a community owned utility. Companies can then compete above that foundation, creating a new ecosystem of services and solutions that would not be feasible to build today given all the silos that exist and the hurdles to connect. Lastly, using a decentralized approach enables advanced incentive models that can ensure the solution is equitable and sustainable for the community long term.

This is an ambitious goal and it will take a lot of work from industry leaders to deliver meaningful change. Rhiza Health continues to seek partnerships with startups as well as incumbents that are looking to learn more about this exciting space. A blend of existing (Web 2) and decentralized (Web 3) software components will be needed to get started but the intent will be to incorporate Web 3 wherever possible. Key product and partnering decisions will be made by the community. Removing hundreds of billions in waste will kick off an intense reaction from the firms who currently profit off that waste. Rhiza Health is committed to this long and difficult journey and I am excited to join you on this noble effort of putting down some new roots for healthcare.

Ways to support / engage:

A little about my history in this area - Kyle Culver (culver.eth):

Subscribe to Rhiza Health
Receive the latest updates directly to your inbox.
Mint this entry as an NFT to add it to your collection.
Verification
This entry has been permanently stored onchain and signed by its creator.
Arweave Transaction
M61Gtd97rny-83S…TQblIFtCWltOLJU
Author Address
0x7dc773B816b1Ecd…1f5E273d5CCfd5c
Content Digest
-h13AAMBBL-afBv…MWyS0xkzCu_PdKg