PR Wallet-Based Blockchain Access Protocol to Secure EHRs

Abstract

With the increase in the amount of data generated, especially in the healthcare sectors, one demands a revolution in the way data and records are being handled in this sector. The patients demand to gain instant access to their health data whenever the need calls for. Many applications have promised their clients for such instant access. But the centralized systems driving the healthcare industry, which comes handy to these instant access data, pose yet another concern for privacy and security of these patients&s; health records. These extremely sensitive health data risks are being compromised by malicious intents and hence further attract cybercrimes. Legacy systems concerned with all the record-keeping and tracking of the patient&s;s data are centralized and often need some third-party access to the data. These systems are also confined to an institution or an authority governing them, and hence, it becomes difficult to share this sensitive information with some external concerned legal authorities, even in the case of any emergency. Blockchain, simply defined as a distributed ledger, has the characteristics to provide a decentralized, privacy-preserving environment in which records can be searched and shared easily with the concerned authorities. Although many institutions are contributing to developing blockchain as a means to secure electronic health records (EHRs), there have been discussions on its usability, especially like how elderly people or people with certain illnesses will be able to authorize institutions. Hence, in this chapter, to address this issue, we introduce a patient record (PR) wallet and a new protocol to access the hybrid blockchain. We shall further introduce a similar application that addresses some of the common issues in this modal.