BSF-EHR: Blockchain Security Framework for Electronic Health Records of Patients

Abstract

In the current epoch of smart homes and cities, personal data such as patients’ names, diseases and addresses are often violated. This is frequently associated with the safety of the electronic health records (EHRs) of patients. EHRs have numerous benefits worldwide, but at present, EHR information is subject to considerable security and privacy issues. This paper proposes a way to provide a secure solution to these issues. Previous sophisticated techniques dealing with the protection of EHRs usually make data inaccessible to patients. These techniques struggle to balance data confidentiality, patient demand and constant interaction with provider data. Blockchain technology solves the above problems since it distributes information in a transactional and decentralized manner. The usage of blockchain technology could help the health sector to balance the accessibility and privacy of EHRs. This paper proposes a blockchain security framework (BSF) to effectively and securely store and keep EHRs. It presents a safe and proficient means of acquiring medical information for doctors, patients and insurance agents while protecting the patient’s data. This work aims to examine how our proposed framework meets the security needs of doctors, patients and third parties and how the structure addresses safety and confidentiality concerns in the healthcare sector. Simulation outcomes show that this framework efficiently protects EHR data.

Privacy Preservation and Access Control for Sharing Electronic Health Records Using Blockchain Technology

“…Moreover, smart contracts are only used in a few proposed systems. In contrast to Qin et al (2021), Khalaf et al (2020), Li et al (2018), Sahoo and Baruah (2018), Liang et al (2017), Ramani et al (2018) and Abunadi and Kumar (2021), our solution uses the smart contract to securely store the encryption key, preserve the EHR signature, verify authentication and manage the user's access control.…”

Analysis of Blockchain in the Healthcare Sector: Application and Issues

“…For instance, India produced the majority of the counterfeit medicines in 2017 and presently approximated that close to 35% of counterfeit medicine were sold across different parts of the globe. To come out from these problems, Abunadi (2021) [12] proposed the usage of Blockchain and claimed that it is more transparent since one change in the transaction process will automatically get reflected by all the relevant users. With its Bdecentralization concept of decentralization, Blockchain can analyze the results on two different platforms: Hyperledger and Ethereum.…”

“…Since the traditionally known EHR system is trademarked with decentralized design, only one unit of supplier controls the code base, database, and system outputs. It has become difficult for the centralized systems to have full confidence from the hospital management, doctors, and patients [12]. Therefore, Blockchain has been considered the solution to the trust issue associated with a centralized electronic health record system.…”

“…The system is often designed to allow the patients full control of generating, managing, and consequently sharing their electronic health records with friends, family, healthcare providers, and other relevant data consumers. Abunadi (2021) [12] illustrates that such a system's main advantage is security and confidentiality. Scholars acknowledge that a blockchain system is more reliable and secure than paper storage of medical records.…”

“…Most patients might be reluctant to disclose and share their medical records within the public domain with other entities in the third party. Therefore, it is very much required to build confidence and trust among the individual patients regarding the privacy and security aspects of Blockchain in the healthcare system [12].…”