Blockchain Technology and Smart Contracts for Secure and Thorough Exchange of Health Data

Abstract

The need for increased longevity has led to heightened concern among individuals about aging with quality, resulting in an abundance of wellness and health data. Unfortunately, many of these data are unsuitable for sharing and integration because of their dissimilar structures and semantics, which need to be better utilized and inadequately safeguarded. The existing standards are intricate and require more cooperation from stakeholders to ensure their implementation. Blockchain technology offers a potential solution by providing a unified framework for standards and their implementation through consensus processes that consider the confirmation and confidentiality of data insertion into blocks in the chain. Furthermore, smart contracts can ensure privacy and adherence to protocols that govern data exchange on the blockchain. This study proposes a blockchain structure incorporating a consensus mechanism to accommodate information collected in the wellness and health ecosystem, combining information obtained from IoT devices and stored on middleware platforms. This architecture addresses these challenges and defines the principles for a secure and comprehensive exchange of wellness and health data.