Dwarna : a blockchain solution for dynamic consent in biobanking

Dynamic consent aims to empower research partners and facilitate active participation in the research process. Used within the context of biobanking, it gives individuals access to information and control to determine how and where their biospecimens and data should be used. We present Dwarna—a web portal for ‘dynamic consent’ that acts as a hub connecting the different stakeholders of the Malta Biobank: biobank managers, researchers, research partners, and the general public. The portal stores research partners’ consent in a blockchain to create an immutable audit trail of research partners’ consent changes. Dwarna’s structure also presents a solution to the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation’s right to erasure—a right that is seemingly incompatible with the blockchain model. Dwarna’s transparent structure increases trustworthiness in the biobanking process by giving research partners more control over which research studies they participate in, by facilitating the withdrawal of consent and by making it possible to request that the biospecimen and associated data are destroyed.peer-reviewe

A novel architecture for tamper proof electronic health record management system using blockchain wrapper

In this paper, we present a novel architecture of blockchain-based tamper-proof electronic health record (EHR) management system. Recording electronic health data in cloud-based storage systems always pose a threat to information security. Intruders can delete or tamper EHR of patients, giving benefits to insurance companies or hiding medical malpractices (e.g. misdiagnosis and delayed diagnosis). A tamper-proof EHR management system is required that would essentially solve such issues. The blockchain is an emerging technology that can be adapted to develop a tamper-proof data management system. However, establishing a new blockchain based system replacing the existing system is expensive. In our proposed architecture, we introduce a wrapper layer integration mechanism, named as the blockchain handshaker, between the existing cloud-based EHR management system and public blockchain network to develop a tamper-proof health record management system. We implement a prototype to provide evidence on the feasibility of the proposed concept. - 2019 Association for Computing Machinery.Scopu

Advancing Healthcare Security: A Cutting-Edge Zero-Trust Blockchain Solution for Protecting Electronic Health Records

The effective management of electronic health records (EHRs) is vital in healthcare. However, traditional systems often need help handling data inconsistently, providing limited access, and coordinating poorly across facilities. This study aims to tackle these issues using blockchain technology to improve EHR systems' data security, privacy, and interoperability. By thoroughly analyzing blockchain's applications in healthcare, we propose an innovative solution that leverages blockchain's decentralized and immutable nature, combined with advanced encryption techniques such as the Advanced Encryption Standard and Zero Knowledge Proof Protocol, to fortify EHR systems. Our research demonstrates that blockchain can effectively overcome significant EHR challenges, including fragmented data and interoperability problems, by facilitating secure and transparent data exchange, leading to enhanced coordination, care quality, and cost-efficiency across healthcare facilities. This study offers practical guidelines for implementing blockchain technology in healthcare, emphasizing a balanced approach to interoperability, privacy, and security. It represents a significant advancement over traditional EHR systems, boosting security and affording patients greater control over their health records. Doi: 10.28991/HIJ-2023-04-03-012 Full Text: PD

A Comparative Study on Blockchain-based Electronic Health Record Systems: Performance, Privacy, and Security Between Hyperledger Fabric and Ethereum Frameworks

Traditional data collection, storage, and processing of Electronic Health Records (EHR) utilize centralized techniques that pose several risks of single point of failure and lean the systems to a number of internal and external data breaches that compromise their reliability and availability. Addressing the challenges of conventional database techniques and improving the overall aspects of EHR application, blockchain technology is being evaluated to find a possible solution. Blockchain refers to an emerging distributed technology and incorruptible database of records or digital events which execute, validate, and maintain by a ledger technology to provide an immutable architecture and prevent records manipulation or alterations. However, there are multiple frameworks emerged in recent years where identifying the advantages and limitation is crucial. This thesis focuses on (i) introducing electronic health records systems using two widely used blockchain frameworks, Hyperledger Fabric and Ethereum. (ii)aims to provide a comparative study on both frameworks from the performance, privacy, and security perspectives. Based on two different introduced EHR systems, we identify the strength and weaknesses of both frameworks and present the challenges and limitations of these systems. According to a comparative study, the Hyperledger Fabric framework demonstrates advanced features including private and consortium networks that can facilitate EHR systems from both security and performance perspectives. Taking the experience into consideration, we aim to extend our study in software engineering domain to evaluate the limits to developing blockchain-based software applications and highlight the way to improve current SE practices in future studies

A Review of Blockchain Technology Based Techniques to Preserve Privacy and to Secure for Electronic Health Records

Research has been done to broaden the block chain’s use cases outside of finance since Bitcoin introduced it. One sector where block chain is anticipated to have a big influence is healthcare. Researchers and practitioners in health informatics constantly struggle to keep up with the advancement of this field's new but quickly expanding body of research. This paper provides a thorough analysis of recent studies looking into the application of block chain based technology within the healthcare sector. Electronic health records (EHRs) are becoming a crucial tool for health care practitioners in achieving these objectives and providing high-quality treatment. Technology and regulatory barriers, such as concerns about results and privacy issues, make it difficult to use these technologies. Despite the fact that a variety of efforts have been introduced to focus on the specific privacy and security needs of future applications with functional parameters, there is still a need for research into the application, security and privacy complexities, and requirements of block chain based healthcare applications, as well as possible security threats and countermeasures. The primary objective of this article is to determine how to safeguard electronic health records (EHRs) using block chain technology in healthcare applications. It discusses contemporary HyperLedgerfabrics techniques, Interplanar file storage systems with block chain capabilities, privacy preservation techniques for EHRs, and recommender systems

SIOTEHR: Secure IoT based EHR Scheme in Blockchain Ecosystem

In the present era, the number of illnesses and traumas is steadily rising. In addition, COVID-19 is still spreading in waves. Therefore EHRs (Electronic Health Records) has become a necessity now which can be used to access a patient's prior medical records through the EHR system. India is still falling behind the rest of the globe in the adoption and use of EHR. The IoT-based EHR aids in patient monitoring and enables the doctor to treat the patient right away if necessary. The goal of the EHR system will fail if the central server, which was the system's defined point of failure, fails or is compromised. In this situation, security is a major concern. In this work, we suggest adopting the blockchain technology to resolve this. We created a SIoTEHR (Secure IoT Based EHR) system that is fully decentralized, secure, traceable, auditable, private, and trustworthy by utilizing a private Ethereum Blockchain