Scalable Inter-operable and Secure Healthcare Framework For Sharing Patient Medical Report using Blockchain and IPFS Technology

Abstract

Today the current healthcare system is the next frontier for the digital transformation, as patients demand control over their sensitive medical records, with the anticipation that their record is securely stored and correctly shared with the right parties by leveraging patient-centered interoperability techniques. However, the traditional approach falls into the category of enterprise integration platforms to maintain the interoperability for different healthcare providers, whose responsibility is to build bridges between the different silos to allow data to flow back and forth and to allow services to work with each other. The problem with the traditional approach of interoperability is that the data itself is still locked inside silos systems within each participating organization in the overall ecosystem. This traditional approach of interoperability brings new challenges in the healthcare systems viz., privacy, security, and mutability of the patient's record. To address these issues, we have proposed a blockchain-based scalable and secure healthcare interoperability framework that ensures secure storage of patient's records by preserving privacy and immutability of their data. In the proposed model, we integrate blockchain and interplanetary file systems (IPFS) with smart-contracts that enabled patient-centered interoperability in the healthcare domain. Our system provides patients an immutable log and easy access to their health records across the different healthcare organizations. Furthermore, patients authorize healthcare providers to access their health records through patient-centered interoperability techniques leveraged by smart-contracts operations.

Enhancing the Security and Privacy of eHealth Records through Blockchain-based Management: A Comprehensive Framework

“…The IPFS content is duplicate-free. Due to the fact that their hash would provide the same CID, storing identical 1 MB of data in a single IPFS node would result in their storage being done only once, eliminating duplication [10]. Decentralization indicates that the system is not governed by a single entity.…”

“…The basic flow of the program is that any third party, including the patient, doctor, lab technician, and other parties, may access BlockFerm. The option to upload records and link them to patients is available to everyone once inside [10]. Any person requesting access can then request permission from the patient.…”