Application of Blockchain Technology in Healthcare
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applications is decentralization, privacy and security since blockchain technology may ensure for example a secure access to medical data for patients and
various stakeholders (insurance companies, hospitals, doctors, etc.).
In this survey, we present the most relevant researches applying blockchain in
healthcare sector. The studied approaches are classified according to a wide range
of use cases such as electronic medical records [2,6–8,16,22,25], remote patient
monitoring [11,14,21], pharmaceutical supply chain [4,5,12,15,20] and health
insurance claims [10,26]. Additionally, this study discusses the applicability of
these solutions and their technical limitations. Moreover, lessons learnt and some
research directions are identified.
The remainder of this paper is organized as follows. Section 2 introduces the
key concepts to understand blockchain technology. In Sect. 3, we provide some
medical uses cases in healthcare that use this promising technology. At the end
of this section, we will sum up the main results. In Sect. 4, research challenges
and opportunities are highlighted. Finally, Sect. 5 concludes the paper and gives
suggestions for future work.
2 Key Concepts on Blockchain
In this section, we discuss the core features of blockchain technology to help
understanding the rest of this paper.
2.1 Overview and Architecture of Blockchain
Essentially, blockchain is a peer-to-peer network that sits on top of the internet
[13], which was introduced in 2008 as part of a proposal for Bitcoin [19]. The
blockchain is a public ledger made up of a sequence of blocks, which holds a
full history of transaction records that occurred within the network. A block is
consisted essentially by a header and a body. The header of each block contains
the hash of the previous block. Therefore, the blocks form a chain or a linked
list where each block structure is based on the previous one.
Block headers also contain a timestamp indicating the time of when the
block was published, a nonce, which is an arbitrary number that miners would
change frequently to get a certain hash value to solve a mathematical puzzle
and a Merkle tree that fundamentally decreases the exertion required to check
transactions inside a block.
A Blockchain transaction can be defined as a small unit of task that is stored
in public blocks. Each transaction is verified by consensus of a majority of the
system participants. This way, tamperproof is ensured once transactions are
packed into the blockchain. In regards to blockchain immutability, a same copy
of the ledger is replicated, hosted and maintained by all participants [13].
Regardless of the type of blockchain, the business logic is encoded using
smart contracts, a self-executing code on the blockchain framework that allow
269
applications is decentralization, privacy and security since blockchain technology may ensure for example a secure access to medical data for patients and
various stakeholders (insurance companies, hospitals, doctors, etc.).
In this survey, we present the most relevant researches applying blockchain in
healthcare sector. The studied approaches are classified according to a wide range
of use cases such as electronic medical records [2,6–8,16,22,25], remote patient
monitoring [11,14,21], pharmaceutical supply chain [4,5,12,15,20] and health
insurance claims [10,26]. Additionally, this study discusses the applicability of
these solutions and their technical limitations. Moreover, lessons learnt and some
research directions are identified.
The remainder of this paper is organized as follows. Section 2 introduces the
key concepts to understand blockchain technology. In Sect. 3, we provide some
medical uses cases in healthcare that use this promising technology. At the end
of this section, we will sum up the main results. In Sect. 4, research challenges
and opportunities are highlighted. Finally, Sect. 5 concludes the paper and gives
suggestions for future work.
2 Key Concepts on Blockchain
In this section, we discuss the core features of blockchain technology to help
understanding the rest of this paper.
2.1 Overview and Architecture of Blockchain
Essentially, blockchain is a peer-to-peer network that sits on top of the internet
[13], which was introduced in 2008 as part of a proposal for Bitcoin [19]. The
blockchain is a public ledger made up of a sequence of blocks, which holds a
full history of transaction records that occurred within the network. A block is
consisted essentially by a header and a body. The header of each block contains
the hash of the previous block. Therefore, the blocks form a chain or a linked
list where each block structure is based on the previous one.
Block headers also contain a timestamp indicating the time of when the
block was published, a nonce, which is an arbitrary number that miners would
change frequently to get a certain hash value to solve a mathematical puzzle
and a Merkle tree that fundamentally decreases the exertion required to check
transactions inside a block.
A Blockchain transaction can be defined as a small unit of task that is stored
in public blocks. Each transaction is verified by consensus of a majority of the
system participants. This way, tamperproof is ensured once transactions are
packed into the blockchain. In regards to blockchain immutability, a same copy
of the ledger is replicated, hosted and maintained by all participants [13].
Regardless of the type of blockchain, the business logic is encoded using
smart contracts, a self-executing code on the blockchain framework that allow