Abstract
A paper-based prescription signed by the prescriber to authorize dispensing of medication is typically used in traditional healthcare. Such systems are prone to many issues like medication errors, latency, and lack of integration with other healthcare systems. Hence, Electronic prescription (E-prescription) systems are being used as alternatives to overcome these issues. Even though E-prescription systems provide the advantage of recording and maintaining patient medication history but still face issues such as system crashes, latency due to their centralized architectures, prone to many security threats like identity theft and unauthorized patient record access and modifications. Lack of standardization can also make such E-prescription systems not interoperable, which may lead to information fragmentation or delays in the processing of prescriptions. Hence, there is still a need for making these E-prescription systems more secure, reliable, and cost-effective for wide-range adaptation. Blockchain is one such technology that can add additional layers of security to the existing E-prescription systems by providing tamper-proof records of all transactions which will help in ensuring the authenticity and integrity of prescriptions. Blockchain can also help in better management of patients’ privacy while patients still have full control over their health data. Blockchain usage can also enhance interoperability and reduce prescription abuse. The proposed application FortiRx makes use of the Ethereum blockchain platform and leverages smart contracts for implementing business logic. Cyphertext-Policy Attribute-Based Encryption (CP-ABE) is used in the proposed application to create and manage access-control mechanisms and ensure Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA) compliance. The proposed system has been implemented and analyzed for security, reliability, and adaptability in a real-time environment.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ababneh, M.A., Al-Azzam, S.I., Alzoubi, K.H., Rababa’h, A.M.: Medication errors in outpatient pharmacies: comparison of an electronic and a paper-based prescription system. J. Pharmaceut. Health Serv. Res. 11(3), 245–248 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1111/jphs.12356
Ahmadi, V., Benjelloun, S., Kik, M.E., Sharma, T., Chi, H., Zhou, W.: Drug governance: IoT-based blockchain implementation in the pharmaceutical supply chain. In: Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference on Mobile And Secure Services (MobiSecServ) (2020). https://doi.org/10.1109/mobisecserv48690.2020.9042950
Alnuaimi, A., Alshehhi, A., Salah, K., Jayaraman, R., Omar, I.A., Battah, A.: Blockchain-based processing of health insurance claims for prescription drugs. IEEE Access 10, 118093–118107 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1109/access.2022.3219837
Bapatla, A.K., Mohanty, S.P., Kougianos, E., Puthal, D., Bapatla, A.: PharmaChain: a blockchain to ensure counterfeit-free pharmaceutical supply chain. IET Networks 12(2), 53–76 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1049/ntw2.12041
Bapatla, A.K., Mohanty, S.P., Kougianos, E., Puthal, D.: PharmaChain 2.0: a blockchain framework for secure remote monitoring of drug environmental parameters in pharmaceutical cold supply chain. In: Proceedings of the IEEE International Symposium on Smart Electronic Systems (iSES) (2022). https://doi.org/10.1109/ises54909.2022.00046
Bapatla, A.K., Mohanty, S.P., Kougianos, E., Puthal, D.: PharmaChain 3.0: blockchain integrated efficient QR code mechanism for pharmaceutical supply chain. In: Proceedings of the OITS International Conference on Information Technology (OCIT) (2022). https://doi.org/10.1109/ocit56763.2022.00121
C for Disease Control (CDC). Health insurance portability and accountability act of 1996 (HIPAA). https://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf. Accessed 18 Mar 2023
Food Administration. Working to reduce medication errors (2019). https://www.fda.gov/drugs/information-consumers-and-patients-drugs/working-reduce-medication-errors. Accessed 18 Mar 2023
Guo, H., Li, W., Nejad, M., Shen, C.C.: Access control for electronic health records with hybrid blockchain-edge architecture. In: Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Blockchain (Blockchain) (2019). https://doi.org/10.1109/blockchain.2019.00015
Huang, J., Qi, Y.W., Asghar, M.R., Meads, A., Tu, Y.C.: MedBloc: a blockchain-based secure EHR system for sharing and accessing medical data. In: Proceedings of the 18th IEEE International Conference on Trust, Security and Privacy in Computing and Communications/13th IEEE International Conference on Big Data Science and Engineering (TrustCom/BigDataSE) (2019). https://doi.org/10.1109/trustcom/bigdatase.2019.00085
Ionescu, S.V.: E-prescription using blockchain technology. In: Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Blockchain, Smart Healthcare and Emerging Technologies (SmartBlock4Health) (2022). https://doi.org/10.1109/smartblock4health56071.2022.10034520
Lamport, L., Shostak, R., Pease, M.: The byzantine generals problem. In: Concurrency: The Works of Leslie Lamport. Association for Computing Machinery (2019). https://doi.org/10.1145/3335772.3335936
Meyliana, S., Fernando, E., Cassandra, C., Marjuki: propose model blockchain technology based good manufacturing practice model of pharmacy industry in Indonesia. In: Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Innovative and Creative Information Technology (ICITech) (2021). https://doi.org/10.1109/icitech50181.2021.9590120
Musamih, A., Jayaraman, R., Salah, K., Hasan, H.R., Yaqoob, I., Al-Hammadi, Y.: Blockchain-based solution for the administration of controlled medication. IEEE Access 9, 145397–145414 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1109/access.2021.3121545
Nakamoto, S.: Bitcoin: a peer-to-peer electronic cash system. https://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf. Accessed 18 Mar 2023
World Health Organization. Medication without harm. https://www.who.int/initiatives/medication-without-harm. Accessed 18 Mar 2023
Puthal, D., Mohanty, S.P., Kougianos, E., Das, G.: When do we need the blockchain? IEEE Consum. Electron. Magaz. 10(2), 53–56 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1109/mce.2020.3015606
Shahnaz, A., Qamar, U., Khalid, A.: Using blockchain for electronic health records. IEEE Access 7, 147782–147795 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1109/access.2019.2946373
Taylor, A., Kugler, A., Marella, P.B., Dagher, G.G.: VigilRx: a scalable and interoperable prescription management system using blockchain. IEEE Access 10, 25973–25986 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1109/access.2022.3156015
Thatcher, C., Acharya, S.: Pharmaceutical uses of blockchain technology. In: Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Advanced Networks and Telecommunications Systems (ANTS) (2018). https://doi.org/10.1109/ants.2018.8710154
Velo, G.P., Minuz, P.: Medication errors: prescribing faults and prescription errors. Br. J. Clin. Pharmacol. 67(6), 624–628 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2125.2009.03425.x
Vora, J., et al.: BHEEM: a blockchain-based framework for securing electronic health records. In: Proceedings of the IEEE Globecom Workshops (GC Wkshps) (2018). https://doi.org/10.1109/glocomw.2018.8644088
Waters, B.: Ciphertext-policy attribute-based encryption: an expressive, efficient, and provably secure realization. In: Catalano, D., Fazio, N., Gennaro, R., Nicolosi, A. (eds.) PKC 2011. LNCS, vol. 6571, pp. 53–70. Springer, Heidelberg (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-19379-8_4
Wolf, M.S., Davis, T.C., Tilson, H.H., Bass, P.F., Parker, R.M.: Misunderstanding of prescription drug warning labels among patients with low literacy. Am. J. Health-Syst. Pharm. 63(11), 1048–1055 (2006). https://doi.org/10.2146/ajhp050469
Ying, B., Sun, W., Mohsen, N.R., Nayak, A.: A secure blockchain-based prescription drug supply in health-care systems. In: Proceedings of the International Conference on Smart Applications, Communications and Networking (SmartNets) (2019). https://doi.org/10.1109/smartnets48225.2019.9069798
Zaghloul, E., Li, T., Ren, J.: Security and privacy of electronic health records: decentralized and hierarchical data sharing using smart contracts. In: Proceedings of the International Conference on Computing, Networking and Communications (ICNC) (2019). https://doi.org/10.1109/iccnc.2019.8685552
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2024 IFIP International Federation for Information Processing
About this paper
Cite this paper
Bapatla, A.K., Mohanty, S.P., Kougianos, E. (2024). FortiRx: Distributed Ledger Based Verifiable and Trustworthy Electronic Prescription Sharing. In: Puthal, D., Mohanty, S., Choi, BY. (eds) Internet of Things. Advances in Information and Communication Technology. IFIPIoT 2023. IFIP Advances in Information and Communication Technology, vol 684. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-45882-8_19
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-45882-8_19
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-031-45881-1
Online ISBN: 978-3-031-45882-8
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)