A Blockchain Based Decentralized Identifiers for Entity Authentication in Electronic Health Records

Abstract

Electronic Health Records (EHRs) are essential in contemporary healthcare as they facilitate the storage and sharing of personal patient data. Traditional cloud-based EHR systems, though, are afflicted with centralized control, privacy threats, restricted interoperability, and susceptibility to data breaches. To alleviate these challenges, this paper suggests a blockchain-based, patient-centered EHR management system that uses Ethereum smart contracts, Decentralized Identifiers (DIDs), and InterPlanetary File System (IPFS) for safe, distributed, and effective handling of health data.The system put forward puts patients at the forefront of EHR access and control, allowing them to grant or withdraw permissions to healthcare providers, insurers, or researchers using fine-grained, attribute-based policies executed through smart contracts. DIDs remove the need for third-party identity providers, providing secure and verifiable user authentication directly on the blockchain. IPFS, on the other hand, provides cost-effective, tamper-proof off-chain storage of medical records, with metadata and access logs stored on-chain to minimize gas usage.Extensive testing on the Ethereum Goerli testnet proves that the system provides greater security, lower storage costs, efficient access control, and better interoperability than conventional models. This method not only solves existing shortcomings in EHR systems but also opens the door to scalable, transparent, and patient-enabled healthcare data management.