Abstract
This paper introduces Intermed, an interoperable blockchain solution tailored specifically for the healthcare sector. Blockchain technology, which gained popularity through the introduction of Bitcoin in 2008, has expanded its scope beyond cryptocurrencies and found applications in various sectors, including healthcare. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the limitations of traditional healthcare systems in securely managing large volumes of sensitive information. Blockchain has emerged as a potential solution to address this challenge, resulting in the emergence of successful blockchain startups in the healthcare industry. However, the isolated nature of blockchain networks presents a barrier to integrating them with existing healthcare platforms. While several cross-chain solutions have been proposed, most are designed for public blockchains and are unsuitable for transferring sensitive data like Electronic Health Records (EHR). Moreover, existing proposals for data sharing among private blockchains, including those in healthcare, often lack sophistication and may have security vulnerabilities. Intermed facilitates seamless data exchange and collaboration among patients, providers, researchers, and insurers, ensuring secure and standardized sharing while preserving privacy and data integrity. Through case studies and implementation examples, we demonstrate the feasibility and benefits of adopting an interoperable blockchain for healthcare, contributing to advancing blockchain technology in the healthcare sector and fostering a more connected and efficient healthcare ecosystem.
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source code of the implementation is available on request from the authors upon reasonable request.
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Acknowledgment
We acknowledge Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology (HCMUT), VNU-HCM, for supporting this study.
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Truong-Viet, D., Tran, H.T., Nguyen-An, K. (2023). Intermed: An Efficient Interoperable Blockchain Protocol for Electronic Health Record Transferring. In: Dao, NN., Thinh, T.N., Nguyen, N.T. (eds) Intelligence of Things: Technologies and Applications. ICIT 2023. Lecture Notes on Data Engineering and Communications Technologies, vol 188. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-46749-3_27
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