Dissertations and Theses
Date of Award
2023
Document Type
Dissertation
Department
Engineering
First Advisor
Tarek Saadawi
Keywords
Blockchain, Patient Health Records, Smart Contract, IPFS, Security, Privacy
Abstract
As the healthcare industry continues to digitize and share patient data for a better understanding of patient health history, cybersecurity must remain a top priority. However, patient health record (PHR) data is extremely sensitive and faces significant challenges due to its distributed nature across various healthcare facilities and providers, which creates a lack of interoperability among healthcare systems. Most patient health record systems adopt a centralized management structure and deploy PHRs to the cloud, which raises privacy concerns when sharing patient information over a network. Thus, there is a need for a framework that considers patient privacy and data security when sharing sensitive information with healthcare facilities and providers. This dissertation proposes a novel blockchain-based framework for Secured On-demand Patient Health Records Sharing (SPHRS), which enables patients to have complete access and control over their health records. Specifically, the framework applies Ethereum blockchain smart contracts for user identity authentication and verification and utilizes Inter-Planetary File System (IPFS) as an off-chain storage system to store encrypted patient health records and ensure immutability. Moreover, the cryptographic software for privacy-preserving employs a decentralized encryption protocol, access control, and key management system which offers end-to-end encrypted patient data sharing and creates a secured on-demand patient health records sharing system. The proposed framework was evaluated for performance using blockchain transaction metrics, which indicated promising results for time-savings in sharing patient health records, enhanced confidentiality, and improved patient-provider interactions. The evaluation also includes an analysis of potential vulnerabilities and security issues in the smart contract code, confirming its robustness and reliability. Additionally, the study proposes a fundamental shift in the Ethereum blockchain design that is supported by theoretical analysis to reduce end-to-end transaction latency by shifting from Proof of Work (PoW) to Proof of Stake (PoS) consensus mechanism and it has the potential to further improve the performance of the proposed framework. Extensive evaluation of the developed system demonstrated the impact of the network workload on performance metrics, confirming low system latency and secure access to PHRs by authorized providers. Furthermore, the evaluation of the proposed framework demonstrates the potential to revolutionize the way patient health records are shared, leading to better outcomes and a more efficient healthcare system by proposing a blockchain-based framework for SPHRS that addresses the challenges of data privacy and security while providing a secure and efficient way to share patient health records.
Recommended Citation
Abouali, Meryem, "Blockchain Framework for Secured On-Demand Patient Health Records Sharing" (2023). CUNY Academic Works.
https://academicworks.cuny.edu/cc_etds_theses/1136