The growing need for secure, efficient, and interoperable healthcare systems has led to the exploration of blockchain technology in Electronic Health Records (EHR) management. This chapter delves into the potential of blockchain to address critical challenges in health data management, including privacy preservation, data interoperability, and patient control. The decentralized nature of blockchain offers an innovative solution to securely store and share health data, ensuring integrity, transparency, and access control. By leveraging smart contracts, blockchain enables the automation of health data transactions, reducing administrative burdens and improving trust between healthcare providers and patients. The implementation of patient centric data ownership models empowers individuals with greater control over their personal health information, ensuring data privacy and compliance with global regulations such as HIPAA and GDPR. This chapter also explores the integration of existing healthcare standards such as HL7 and FHIR within blockchain frameworks to ensure seamless interoperability across healthcare platforms. While the potential of blockchain in healthcare was promising, the chapter highlights the technical, regulatory, and ethical challenges that must be addressed for successful adoption. The findings provide valuable insights for researchers, healthcare providers, and policymakers aiming to implement blockchain technology in health data management systems.ÂÂÂ
The healthcare sector has seen tremendous advancements in recent decades, driven by the rapid evolution of technology. However, despite these innovations, significant challenges persist in managing Electronic Health Records (EHR) [1]. Healthcare systems worldwide still struggle with issues such as fragmented data, lack of data interoperability, and concerns regarding patient privacy and data security [2]. Traditional centralized models of data storage and management have proven to be vulnerable to unauthorized access, data breaches, and inefficiencies. These issues hinder the ability to provide optimal patient care, as healthcare providers often face difficulties in accessing comprehensive and accurate patient information [3]. Blockchain technology has emerged as a promising solution to these challenges, offering a decentralized, secure, and transparent framework for EHR management that ensures data integrity, confidentiality, and accessibility [4]. One of the primary advantages of blockchain in healthcare was its ability to address the issue of data interoperability [5]. Healthcare systems across different regions and organizations often use different standards and protocols for storing and sharing health data [6]. This fragmentation leads to silos, preventing seamless communication and data exchange between healthcare providers, which can adversely affect patient care [7]. Blockchain technology offers a unified platform that can support the integration of various standards, such as HL7, FHIR, and CDA, enabling seamless data exchange across different healthcare entities [8]. By leveraging blockchain’s inherent characteristics decentralization, immutability, and transparency healthcare systems can ensure that patient data was easily accessible, regardless of where or how it was originally stored [9].ÂÂÂ
