Blockchain Technology for Secure Storage and Transfer of Electronic Health Records

Abstract

The goal of this study is to identify the current applications of blockchain and we want to bring the idea of the blockchain solutions to the healthcare industry.

Patient’s medical data on a decentralized secure Proof ledger is the key for personal ownership, interoperability and is a lifetime history of care.

Data is encrypted and managed by the consensus and can only accessed by the owner. By today’s standards, the blockchain is more private, liquid, costs less to administer and provides a real-time lifesaving flow of medical and health data. Basing ourselves on the blockchain technology that over the past two decades, the Internet has revolutionized many aspects of business and society... Yet the basic mechanics of how people and organizations execute transactions… have not been updated for the 21st century. Blockchain could bring to those processes the openness and efficiency we have come to expect in the Internet Era ; blockchain is a distributed database that is currently most known for being the technology used for storing transaction information of digital currencies such as the Bitcoin. Through a literature review and interviews with domain experts, research and taking part of international conferences , we identified decentralized data and privacy protection, and decentralized autonomous organizations (DAO). Within the area of decentralized data and privacy protection, we further identified the two sub- some current application areas for blockchain, that is, money transactions, areas of smart contracts and secure identities. In addition, we identified some possible application areas by conducting a second literature review. That helped us do identify all existing solutions weaknesses and possible improvements to this subject so we could introduce some new research concepts.

The contribution of this study can be used for further studies through each of the above application areas in order to identify possible advantages and disadvantages.