A Blockchain-Based Access Management System for Enhanced Patient Privacy and Secure Telehealth and Telemedicine Data

The Internet of Things (IoT) advances allow healthcare providers to distantly gather and immediately analyze patient health data for diagnostic purposes via connected health devices. In a COVID-19-like pandemic, connected devices can mitigate virus spread and make essential information, such as respiratory patterns, available to healthcare professionals. However, these devices generate vast amounts of data, rendering them susceptible to privacy breaches, and data leaks. Blockchain technology is a robust solution to address these issues in telemedicine systems. This paper proposes a blockchain-based access management solution to enhance patient privacy and secure telehealth and telemedicine data. The paper seeks to contribute in two significant ways to the enhancement of patient privacy and security: firstly, by defining a patient-centric access mechanism that adheres to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and our security requirements, as well as describing architecture, all pertinent access management actions, and proposed smart contracts including their design goals; secondly, by formalizing and validating the security properties through the application of the SeMF security modeling framework as well as, performing the cost analysis. As a result, the SeMF has assessed the satisfaction of our security requirements, including data integrity, data authenticity, data confidentiality, and authentication. As a result, the system has proven alignment with defined security requirements. Furthermore, the implementation has demonstrated the cost savings of our system. Finally, the system has been compared to other solutions based on design goals and GDPR compliance. Thus, the system is suitable for enhancing patient security and privacy through a patient-centric approach.