Blockchain-Based Information Security of Electronic Medical Records (EMR) in a Healthcare Communication System

Abstract

Protecting the digital medical data from cyber-attacks is essential in a healthcare communication system. Blockchain is a distributed as well as shared ledger-based technology which can more readily encourage information security. Blockchain approach is commonly applied for the digital crypto-currency; however, it is awaited to have future conducts in health care. Many healthcare systems today are still subordinated on the back-dated application for keeping healthcare records. Here, the main challenges faced to date are information security and interoperability. This study introduces a blockchain-based model for securing the Electronic Medical Records (EMR). Here, we have used SHA256 secure hash algorithm for generating a unique and identical 256-bit or 32-byte hash value for a particular medical record. In this manuscript, we have focused on five mechanisms (Digital Access Rules, Data Aggregation, Data Immutability, Data Liquidity, and Patient Identity) of data transition for securing the medical records at the proposed blockchain model.