The benefits and threats of blockchain technology in healthcare: A scoping review

Abuelezz, Israa; Hassan, Asma; Nazeemudeen, Anjanarani; Househ, Mowafa; Abd‐Alrazaq, Alaa

doi:10.1016/j.ijmedinf.2020.104246

Cited by 252 publications

(187 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…Blockchain is considered essentially secure and cannot be tampered or changed 31,48 . In addition to their use in vaccine certi cates, blockchain technology has also recently been used for other healthcare initiatives such as contact tracing among others [49][50][51] . Companies such as IBM, WISekey, and Quantum Material Corp have already been working towards vaccine tracking 52 , COVID-19 test results 53,54 , and providing access to diagnostics, vaccine education and necessary medical services and data 30 prior to introducing vaccine certi cates.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A scoping review of global vaccine certificate solutions for COVID-19

Mithani

Bota

Zhu

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Background: Globally, measures such as lockdown, quarantining, and physical distancing have been implemented to curb the spread of COVID-19. As the vaccines are now available and reintegration into society is beginning, measures such as vaccine certificates are being implemented around the world.Objective: The objective of the scoping review is to identify the existing digital solutions available globally for COVID-19 vaccine certificates and evaluate them on the basis of purpose and use case, technological architecture, and ethical and legal implications.Methods: We conducted a Google search as well as a search of Embase, Ovid MEDLINE and preprint servers (MedRXIV, BioRXIV). The search terms used were “coronavirus”, “COVID-19”, “SARS COV2”, “immunization passport”, “immunization certificate”, “vaccine certificate”, “vaccination certificate” and “digital”. Articles were included for review if they included any discussion of a digital solution for vaccine certificates and English language. Data was extracted using an electronic data extraction form and included date, location, type of article, source, companies identified, technology used, type of evidence provided, digital architecture, security and privacy measures, and use cases. The articles were categorized based on the following six pre-identified themes: 1) legal, 2) technology, 3) ethics, 4) travel, 5) policy, and 6) science. Results: A total of 70 articles were included in the final analysis. Technology emerged as the most dominant theme, appearing in 58.5% (n=41) articles followed by ethics (n=22, 31%), travel (n=21, 30%), legal concerns (n=10, 14%), public policy (n=9, 13%), and scientific concerns (n=1, 1.5%. Our review identified 8 global solutions that are working towards COVID-19 vaccine certificate, all optimizing blockchain technology. COVID-19 vaccine certificates are being considered in 13 countries and are in place in 3 countries. All the solutions we identified are using blockchain technology.Conclusion: Several countries have implemented or are considering COVID-19 vaccine certificates. Many issues concerning the themes we identified remain to be addressed to facilitate successful implementation.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A scoping review of global vaccine certificate solutions for COVID-19

Mithani

Bota

Zhu

et al. 2021

Preprint

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“…• Confidentiality: It is related to the detection of stored, and transmitted data by authorized stakeholders in the blockchain network [30]. The technology also ensures that the transactions and identities of participants are protected.…”

Section: B Security Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Each stakeholder would be referred by their Ethereum address thereby, protecting their identity. • Data integrity: Blockchain technology maintains data integrity and immutability as modification, addition, and deletion of data is not permissible in the distributed ledger [30]. Any data modification required is reentered in the ledger as a new transaction.…”

Section: B Security Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Automating Procurement Contracts in the Healthcare Supply Chain Using Blockchain Smart Contracts

et al. 2021

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Effectively managing the healthcare supply chain (HCSC) process is crucial for healthcare providers not only during pandemics such as COVID-19 but also in their normal operations. Despite significant advances in new technologies and treatment options providers still suffer from poor procurement, ordering, forecasting, and distribution practices. Group Purchasing Organizations (GPOs) are an important stakeholder in HCSC and benefit providers with cost savings, volume discounts, and vendor selection. However, the current GPO contract process is time-consuming and lacks efficiency. Hence, our proposed solution integrates blockchain technology and decentralized storage to promote transparency, streamlines communication with stakeholders, and minimize the procurement timeline while avoiding pricing discrepancies and inaccuracies. Our solution connects all the stakeholders such as manufacturer, GPO, distributor, and provider using Ethereum network. In this paper, we propose a blockchain solution using smart contracts to automate the GPO contract process. We propose a generic framework for contracting process in the HCSC with detailed algorithms depicting various interactions among HCSC stakeholders. The smart contract code was developed and tested using Remix IDE and the code is publicly shared via Github 1. We discuss various security risks and present detailed cost analysis of various transactions incurred by the stakeholders. Our analysis demonstrates that the proposed blockchain-based solution is economically feasible as only a minimal transaction fee is expended by the stakeholders in the distributed network.

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“…Wagh et al [ 5 ] provided a comprehensive overview of blockchain technology. The authors provided a synopsis of blockchain architecture, security in blockchain and its benefits [ 16 ]. Furthermore, they explored its application in a new field, namely, the health sector.…”

Section: Literature Surveymentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Abunadi

Kumar

2021

Sensors

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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.

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The benefits and threats of blockchain technology in healthcare: A scoping review

Cited by 252 publications

References 19 publications

A scoping review of global vaccine certificate solutions for COVID-19

A scoping review of global vaccine certificate solutions for COVID-19

Automating Procurement Contracts in the Healthcare Supply Chain Using Blockchain Smart Contracts

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

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