Efficient blockchain based solution for secure medical record management

Electronic medical records (EMRs) have become a key player in the healthcare ecosystem contributing to the assessment of ailments, the choice of the treatment avenue, and the delivery of services. However, there is consideration of EMR storage whereby centralized storage leads to increased security and privacy issues in the patient’s record. In this paper, we proposed a blockchain and interplanetary file system (IPFS) based prototype model for EMR management. It provides a smart contract-enabled decentralized storage platform where healthcare data security, availability, and access management are prioritized. This model also employs cryptographic techniques to protect sensitive healthcare data. Finally, the model is evaluated in a realistic scenario. The experimental results demonstrate that compared to the current systems, the proposed prototype model outperforms them in terms of efficiency, privacy, and security.