Ep. 32: Semi-Autonomous Health Insurance – Cyrus Maaghul (CEO of HCX Pay)
Cyrus Maaghul has led the development of many technology companies and has worked at the Blockchain incubator at fidelity investments in Boston. In 2014, he started PointNurse to connect patients and nurses on a virtual platform. In 2017, he founded HealthCombix (HCX Pay), a next generation platform that intends to deploy autonomous business models powering financial, insurance, and healthcare solutions for unprecedented human condition improvement. He’s been involved with developing technology solutions for IBM, Deloitte, and Citibank.
HCX Pay Homepage: https://www.hcxpay.io/
•Cyrus’s background and various startup experiences in digital payments, international advising for Dept. of Defense
•Entry into Healthcare Industry by almost buying a home health company
•State of Health Insurance
oHow/when/why was insurance in the healthcare system started in the USA?
oWar influenced the introduction of Center of Medicare and Medicaid Services
oParametric Insurance
oImportance of Agency and Transparency
•How did you first hear about blockchain technology?
•What is the vision for HealthCombix and HCX Pay? Why did you start it?
•Why is insurance a good use case for blockchain?
•Smart contracts can replace traditional insurance companies
•HCX company
oWho are your company partners and major customers?
oCan you describe your technology stack?
oWhat products are currently available or being developed?
oWhat are the advantages and disadvantages of basing your company in the Central American country of Belize?
oPrivacy Network is derivative of Monero
oProduct Roadmap
•Blockchain adoption and awareness in healthcare
oWhat are the biggest barriers to adoption?
oWhat does it mean when people say blockchain can provide more trust?
•Decentralized Technology policy discussions
opublic vs. private networks
oImportance of community
oimportance of privacy
•Were there any events or announcements in the healthcare/blockchain space that was very unexpected or surprising to you? Why?
•Outlook for 2019 and beyond
•Interesting blockchain projects – Dero (not “Nero” as incorrectly stated in the podcast) is a DAG-based privacy layer one network with smart contracts built in https://dero.io/
•Fire question – What is the most important technology in the past 500 years? Electricity
IOT technology – If you had to have micro chip implanted in your body, where would you choose to have it implanted?
•Most impactful book you’ve read – A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle
Health Unchained New Corner:
JPMorgan has recently announced its plan to acquire InstaMed, a 15 year old medical payments technology firm that makes paying for a hospital bill easier by using an InstaMed app. In Spring of 2019, InstaMed introduced a blockchain prototype for revenue cycle transactions and payments. InstaMed’s platform connects consumer, providers, and payers and it focusing on eliminating paper, improving finainical experience, and reducing costs to collect payments. The acquisition is reported to be over a whopping $500 million. Bill Marvin, CEO and cofounder of InstaMed said, “blockchain is something we’re both passionate about” when speaking about the sale to JPMorgan. InstaMed will continue its operations in Philadelphia and Newport Beach, CA.
https://www.healthcarefinancenews.com/news/jpmorgan-chase-acquire-payments-technology-company-instamed
Health Unchained Links
Website: healthunchained.org
Telegram: t.me/healthunchained
Twitter: twitter.com/Healthunchaind
Udemy Blockchain/Healthcare Course (Promo Code DOGUM2019): https://www.udemy.com/blockchain-and-healthcare/?couponCode=DOGUM2019
Beyond Blocks Weekly Newsletter: http://beyondblocks.bertcmiller.com/
