Blockchain Tokens as Universal Encrypted Access: A Comprehensive System for Healthcare Information Networks

Abstract

The digitization of healthcare presents both opportunities and challenges in managing medical data securely and efficiently. Centralized systems often raise concerns about data security, privacy, and accessibility. Blockchain technology, with its decentralized and transparent framework, offers a potential solution for data exchange and management. However, interoperability limitations between independent blockchain networks restrict their widespread adoption in healthcare. Fragmented data across these systems can lead to duplication, inconsistencies, and compromised patient privacy.This thesis proposes a novel approach using blockchain tokens, specifically non-fungible tokens (NFTs), which are unique digital certificates of ownership recorded on a blockchain, as a universal encrypted access system. These tokens facilitate the seamless transfer of patients' medical data across various blockchain-based healthcare networks. Assigning a unique token to each patient addresses the issues of data fragmentation and lack of interoperability that currently impede healthcare blockchain adoption.To achieve universal access with tokens, our solution leverages distributed storage systems (DSS), a decentralized network approach for data storage, employs steganography, a technique for hiding information within a digital carrier, and integrates cryptographic techniques. DSS eliminates centralized storage of sensitive medical data, thus preventing a single point of failure. To mitigate the inherent vulnerability of public DSS and NFTs metadata, steganography is employed to protect sensitive data, unique identifiers, and critical metadata, thus limiting access to authorized parties. Data is further secured with a password when embedded within images, serving later as NFTs images for simplified data retrieval. Cryptographic methods ensure secure password transfer during patient mobility across networks. Our model leverages the unique properties of NFTs. We use the mutability of NFT data to introduce patient updatable NFTs that can accommodate dynamic medical data. Conversely, the immutability of NFT data establishes an ownership mechanism for patients, ensuring data privacy, uniqueness, and a trusted, sharable protocol. This approach facilitates the seamless integration of new patient records in real-time on the public blockchain. A scoping study on a medical test network assessed the feasibility of using a private blockchain for healthcare records management (HRM). Insights gained led to expanding the scope to two blockchain medical networks. Multiple institutions implemented and tested medical record integration on IPFS within the private network using updatable NFTs on a public blockchain. Performance analysis confirmed the solution's feasibility, effectiveness, and potential for practical application