Blockchain Meets Smart Health: Towards Next Generation Healthcare Services

Abstract

Blockchain technology is rapidly gaining traction in healthcare industry as one of the most exciting technological developments. In particular, blockchain technology presents numerous opportunities for healthcare industry such as reduced transaction costs, increased transparency for regulatory reporting, efficient healthcare data management and healthcare records universality. In the context of smart health, blockchain may provide distinct benefits, particularly from a context-aware perspective where efficient and personalised solutions may be provided to citizens and the society in general. In this article, we portray the symbiotic relationship between blockchain and smart health. Among others, we identify and analyse three individual streams of possible synergies. In addition, we discuss several challenges for actually implementing blockchain-based applications in the healthcare industry along with several opportunities for future research directions.