Electronic Health Records Security and Privacy Enhancement Using Blockchain Technology

Abstract

Electronic health records (HERs) contain highly sensitive and private data. In the current centralized system, patient healthcare data is not secure and that raises serious concerns. The privacy of personal healthcare data can be protected through permissioned blockchain technology. Hyperledger Fabric is a permissioned blockchain architecture that allows the building of a private blockchain for enterprise solutions. This study focuses on using a Hyperledger Fabric distributed blockchain network to manage electronic health records securely and efficiently. In recent years, several permissioned blockchain-integrated solutions for electronic health records have emerged; each promises to revolutionize how transactions are processed and privacy methods are implemented. However, only a few articles have discussed Hyperledger Fabric&s;s privacy-preserving mechanisms to preserve transaction linkability and data privacy inside the network. Our suggested architecture seeks to deliver Hyperledger Fabric blockchain-based healthcare solutions that securely store, manage, and transfer patient-sensitive data while maintaining the privacy of healthcare actors’ sensitive data. Furthermore, the proposed architecture uses proxy re-encryption mechanisms and IPFS with Arweave to enhance the privacy, immutability, and permanence of the data.