Authors: Prof. Sumit S. Shevtekar, Sanket Chaudhari
DOI Link: https://doi.org/10.22214/ijraset.2023.56362
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Healthcare data sharing is essential for enhancing healthcare service quality and efficiency. However, traditional healthcare data sharing systems are often centralized, opaque, and inefficient. This can pose security and privacy concerns, as well as delays and errors in data access. The integration of blockchain-based smart contracts into the healthcare sector has introduced a transformative paradigm for decentralized healthcare data sharing. This research paper explores the multifaceted landscape of leveraging smart contracts to enhance the security, efficiency, and accessibility of healthcare data sharing. By offering secure, transparent, and automated mechanisms, smart contracts address critical challenges in patient data management, consent verification, and interoperability across healthcare systems. This paper delves into the architecture and practical implementation of smart contracts in healthcare, highlighting their potential to revolutionize electronic health records, streamline administrative processes, and ensure compliance with data privacy regulations. Through this exploration, we underline the pivotal role of smart contracts in reshaping the healthcare industry and fostering trust in the digital age.
I. INTRODUCTION
The healthcare industry is facing significant challenges related to data sharing, interoperability, and security. Traditional healthcare systems make accessing and sharing patient data across systems challenging for physicians. Furthermore, patient data is frequently held in centralized systems that are subject to cyber-attacks and privacy breaches.
Blockchain technology, which provides a decentralized trustworthy environment for data sharing and storage, has emerged as a viable answer to these difficulties.
Smart contracts, that are self-executing contracts in which the conditions of the buyer-seller agreement are explicitly put into lines of code, can improve the efficiency and openness of healthcare data exchange even further.
To begin with, we presume that the security of health records for patients and sensitive medical information is unavoidable. In an era rife with data breaches and privacy concerns, blockchain, with its immutability and encryption capabilities, offers a promising solution.
We also believe that interoperability, or the easy interchange of data among various healthcare systems and institutions, is critical. Another major assumption is achieving this while guaranteeing regulatory compliance, such as compliance of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).
Moreover, we assume that the principles of transparency and patient consent, when combined with the benefits of blockchain technology, can foster a healthcare ecosystem where patients have greater control over their data and who accesses it.
The proposed system is based on the following basic assumptions:
II. LITERATURE SURVEY
This section compiles some of the prior research on smart contracts for data sharing. This survey is carried out in order to overcome the limitations of the already implemented systems and gain a brief overview on the secure data sharing in the healthcare industry.
No |
Title |
Findings |
1. |
A secure blockchain-based e-health records storage and sharing scheme |
This research presents a secure blockchain-based scheme for storing and sharing e-health records, ensuring data security. However, the study may have limitations and communication overhead is also very high. |
2. |
A Blockchain-Based Smart Contract System for Healthcare Management |
Khatoon's work focuses on a smart contract system tailored for healthcare management, enhancing efficiency and data security. However, the study may require further validation and real-world testing for practical implementation in healthcare systems. Not applicable for large datasets. |
3. |
A Decentralized Storage System Using IPFS, Attributed-based Encryption, and Blockchain |
Pham et al. introduce B-Box, a decentralized storage system that combines IPFS, attributed-based encryption, and blockchain technology. This innovative approach ensures secure data storage and sharing. Limitation of this system is it lacks to provide confidentiality. |
4. |
A healthcare system based on IoT, Blockchain and IPFS for data management security |
This research by Azbeg et al. explores "BlockMedCare," a healthcare system leveraging IoT, blockchain, and IPFS for enhanced data management security. The study highlights the potential of this innovative system in addressing data security and privacy challenges in healthcare. It lacks to offer data integrity. |
5. |
Towards a Remote Monitoring of Patient Vital Signs Based on IoT-Based Blockchain Integrity Management Platforms in Smart Hospitals |
Jamil et al. investigate the development of an IoT-based blockchain integrity management platform for remote monitoring of patient vital signs in smart hospitals. This research aims to enhance patient care through secure and efficient data management. Lacks Cloud security. |
6. |
Blockchain-based privacy preserving e-health system for healthcare data in cloud. |
The study by Zhang et al. explores a blockchain-based privacy-preserving e-health system designed to secure healthcare data in cloud environments. The research emphasizes data privacy and security in the cloud, however it cannot provide security against insider attacks. |
III. PROBLEM STATEMENT
There is a pressing need for a novel solution that can decentralize healthcare data sharing while maintaining data integrity and privacy. Leveraging smart contracts for decentralized healthcare data sharing aims to address these challenges, offering a secure and efficient way to manage patient data. This project seeks to develop a system that can enable seamless, privacy-compliant, and secure sharing of healthcare data across the industry. The challenge lies in designing a robust, scalable, and user-friendly platform that integrates smart contracts into healthcare data management, enhancing patient-centric care and regulatory compliance.
IV. PROPOSED SYSTEM
The proposed system is a decentralized healthcare Smart contract-based data sharing system. This technology enables people to control their own data and exchange it on a need-to-know basis with healthcare practitioners, researchers, and other authorized parties. The system also ensures that data is shared securely and efficiently, while protecting patient’s privacy.
The system consists of the following components (Figure 1):
Working of Proposed System (Figure 2):
In this paper, we have presented a novel approach to decentralized healthcare data sharing using smart contracts. The suggested approach allows people to own their own data and exchange it on a need-to-know basis with healthcare practitioners, researchers, and other authorized parties. The system also ensures that data is shared securely and efficiently, while protecting patients\' privacy. Future work consists addressing the regulatory challenges of using smart contracts for healthcare data sharing along with evaluating the scalability of the system.
[1] H. L. Pham, T. H. Tran and Y. Nakashima, \"A Secure Remote Healthcare System for Hospital Using Blockchain Smart Contract,\" 2018 IEEE Globecom Workshops (GC Wkshps), Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, 2018, pp. 1-6, doi: 10.1109/GLOCOMW.2018.8644164. [2] Shamshad, S.; Minahil; Mahmood, K.; Kumari, S.; Chen, C.-M. A secure blockchain-based e-health records storage and sharing scheme. J. Inf. Secur. Appl. 2020, 55, 102590. [CrossRef] [3] Khatoon, A. A Blockchain-Based Smart Contract System for Healthcare Management. Electronics 2020, 9, 94. [CrossRef] [4] Pham, V.-D.; Tran, C.-T.; Nguyen, T.; Nguyen, T.-T.; Do, B.-L.; Dao, T.-C.; Nguyen, B.M. B-Box—A Decentralized Storage System Using IPFS, Attributed-based Encryption, and Blockchain. In Proceedings of the 2020 RIVF International Conference on Computing and Communication Technologies (RIVF), Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, 14–15 October 2020; pp. 1–6. [CrossRef] [5] Azbeg, K.; Ouchetto, O.; Andaloussi, S.J. BlockMedCare: A healthcare system based on IoT, Blockchain and IPFS for data management security. Egypt. Inform. J. 2022, 23, 329–343. [CrossRef] [6] Jamil, F.; Ahmad, S.; Iqbal, N.; Kim, D.-H. Towards a Remote Monitoring of Patient Vital Signs Based on IoT-Based Blockchain Integrity Management Platforms in Smart Hospitals. Sensors 2020, 20, 2195. [CrossRef] [7] Zhang, G.; Yang, Z.; Liu, W. Blockchain-based privacy preserving e-health system for healthcare data in cloud. Comput. Netw. 2021, 203, 10858. [CrossRef]
Copyright © 2023 Prof. Sumit S. Shevtekar, Sanket Chaudhari. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Paper Id : IJRASET56362
Publish Date : 2023-10-29
ISSN : 2321-9653
Publisher Name : IJRASET
DOI Link : Click Here