Abstract
Accessing a patient’s information across data sharing networks is a challenging task. For a client application to request a patient’s data, it has to first refer to a centralized repository for demographic information to identify the patient. Then the search will be continued for patients’ clinical and medical data that may exist in different centralized data sharing networks. This approach poses a risk on data availability especially in emergency instances because centralized data sources can be attractive targets for cyberattack (Peterson et al., J. Med. Syst. 63:425–432, 2016) or can be a single point of failure. Other problems can be data privacy and security associated with the centralized authority and governance of data (Wu and LaRue, Int. J. Nurs. Sci. 4:410–417, 2017). In this chapter, we introduce a cross-blockchain-based data search service that avoids centralized data risks. This search service consists of emergency data services that enable first responders to request and receive relevant emergency data across multiple Hyperledger Fabric (HLF) networks. It also allows first responders’ care reports to be sent back to the networks where patient’s data is retrieved from. Patients’ treatment data is recorded and updated on the ledger. We have implemented our approach by creating two HLF networks consisting of two hospitals and one client application, which enables first responders to look up a patient’s data and add the care report by connecting to these networks.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
H. Wu, E.M. LaRue, Linking the health data system in the U.S.: Challenges to the benefits. Int. J. Nurs. Sci 4(4), 410–417 (2017)
G. Mears, et al., National EMS assessment Table of Contents (2011), pp. 1–550
ISO/IEC 24760:2011, “A framework for identity management,” Fg-Secmgt.Gi.De (2011)
“Health IT Standards,” HealthIT.gov, 04-Jun-2019. [Online]. Available: https://www.healthit.gov/topic/standards-technology/health-it-standards
N. Shen et al., Understanding the patient privacy perspective on health information exchange: A systematic review. Int. J. Med. Inform. 125, 1–12 (2019)
Patient consent for electronic health information exchange and interoperability, HealthIT.gov, 18-Sep-2019. [Online]. Available: https://www.healthit.gov/topic/interoperability/patient-consent-electronic-health-information-exchange-and-interoperability
M. Reisman, EHRs: The challenge of making electronic data usable and interoperable. P T Peer Rev. J. Formul. Manag. 42(9), 572–575 (2017)
C. Rathert, T.H. Porter, J.N. Mittler, M. Fleig-Palmer, Michelle seven years after meaningful use: Physicians’ and nurses’ experiences with electronic health records. Health Care Manage. Rev. 44(1), 30–40 (2019)
“Hyperledger Fabric Glossary,” Hyperledger fabric. [Online]. Available: https://hyperledger-fabric.readthedocs.io/en/release-1.2/glossary.html
On May 15, 2018, Senate Bill 17, Health Information Exchanges – Definitions and Regulations, was signed into law, changing the definition of an HIE
N. Menachemi, S. Rahurkar, C.A. Harle, J.R. Vest, The benefits of health information exchange: An updated systematic review. J. Am. Med. Inform. Assoc. 25(9), 1259–1265 (2018)
Q. Ahrq, Regional Health eDecisions: A guide to connecting health information exchange in primary care
J. Adler-Milstein, D.W. Bates, A.K. Jha, Operational health information exchanges show substantial growth, but long-term funding remains a concern. Health Aff (Millwood) 32(8), 1486–1492 (2013)
S. Jamison, “On the road to RHIO: What state CIOs need to know,” (859), pp. 1–10, 2007
“7.9 Common Example Scenarios in FHIR,” Usecases - FHIR v4.0.1. [Online]. Available: https://www.hl7.org/fhir/usecases.html
E. O’Dowd, “FHIR may not help healthcare orgs achieve semantic interoperability,” HITInfrastructure, 24-Sep-2018. [Online]. Available: https://hitinfrastructure.com/news/fhir-may-not-help-healthcare-orgs-achieve-semantic-interoperability
D. Devine, “With FHIR in Place is There Room for Blockchain in Healthcare? - Huron,” Huron Consulting Group. [Online]. Available: https://www.huronconsultinggroup.com/resources/healthcare/fhir-blockchain-healthcare
I.A. Qasse, M.A. Talib, Q. Nasir, Inter blockchain communication: A survey, in International Conference Proceedings Series (2019)
G.G. Dagher, C.L. Adhikari, T. Enderson, Towards secure interoperability between heterogeneous blockchains using smart contracts (November 2017)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2021 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this paper
Cite this paper
Hasavari, S., Osei-Tutu, K., Song, YT. (2021). A Cross-Blockchain Approach to Emergency Medical Information. In: Arabnia, H.R., Deligiannidis, L., Shouno, H., Tinetti, F.G., Tran, QN. (eds) Advances in Computer Vision and Computational Biology. Transactions on Computational Science and Computational Intelligence. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-71051-4_43
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-71051-4_43
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-71050-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-71051-4
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)