Vol. 5 No. 2 (2021)
Articles

Blockchain Integration Patterns for Integrity of Health Care Data

Published 2021-06-30

Abstract

In the healthcare sector, security is critical. Nearly 176 million health records were vulnerable to data breaches between 2009 and 2017. In order to steal credit card and financial numbers, as well as health and genetic research data, the attackers broke into homes and businesses. As it has been able to maintain an incorruptible, decentralised, and open log of all patient data, blockchain is an excellent technology for applications in the field of protection. However, it is also safe and conceals the identity of any person. Patients, physicians, and hospital professionals are now able to exchange the same knowledge when working with the decentralised technology. The cost of verifying an individual transaction on a blockchain is low. For a single piece of information, you can audit it in real time, and it's completely transparent to everyone. Costless verification is, thus, economically feasible. For example, recent audits of healthcare records have required time-consuming and expensive evaluation of small units of transactions. Prior to blockchains, this process had to be stopped and restarted regularly in order to comply with legislation. In contrast with conventional healthcare information management systems, blockchain has 5 possible advantages. Blockchains are perfect for decentralised administration applications, such as when users including hospitals, customers, and payers will like to cooperate without a central management intermediary. The second benefit of blockchains is that they can provide unchangeable archives of sensitive information; this makes them appropriate for static databases (e.g., insurance claim records). Blockchains are particularly effective at tracking the origin and history of digital objects (e.g., patient consent in clinical trials). Changing the ownership of the object can only be done by the person who owns it, according to cryptographic protocols. Additionally, the roots of the properties are traceable, which makes evidence that has been validated much more reusable. The fourth benefit of blockchains is that they guarantee the long-term, consistent, and available nature of documents. This makes them ideal for long-term records retention and uninterrupted availability (e.g., the electronic health records of patients). The data is encrypted with patients' personal keys and only accessible with their permission, making it safer and more private. Even if the network is compromised by a hostile group, there is no way to obtain personal information.