Blockchain in Healthcare: A Patient-Centered Model

Abstract

A blockchain is a system for storing and sharing information that is secure because of its transparency. Each block in the chain is both its own independent unit containing its own information, and a dependent link in the collective chain, and this duality creates a network regulated by participants who store and share the information, rather than a third party. Blockchain has many applications in healthcare, and can improve mobile health applications, monitoring devices, sharing and storing of electronic medical records, clinical trial data, and insurance information storage. Research about blockchain and healthcare is currently limited, but blockchain is on the brink of transforming the healthcare system; through its decentralized principles, blockchain can improve accessibility and security of patient information, and can therefore overturn the healthcare hierarchy and build a new system in which patients manage their own care.

Keywords: Blockchain; Data Security and Confidentiality; E-health; Electronic Health Records; Healthcare Service Innovation and IT; IT Design and Development Methodologies; Information and Knowledge Management; Telehealth.

Figure 1:

Overview of how a blockchain system operates.

Figure 2:

Overview of a proposed blockchain healthcare model.