Research Area:  Blockchain Technology

Abstract:

Blockchain technology has been gaining visibility owing to its ability to enhance the security, reliability, and robustness of distributed systems. Several areas have benefited from research based on this technology, such as finance, remote sensing, data analysis, and healthcare. Data immutability, privacy, transparency, decentralization, and distributed ledgers are the main features that make blockchain an attractive technology. However, healthcare records that contain confidential patient data make this system very complicated because there is a risk of a privacy breach. This study aims to address research into the applications of the blockchain healthcare area. It sets out by discussing the management of medical information, as well as the sharing of medical records, image sharing, and log management. We also discuss papers that intersect with other areas, such as the Internet of Things, the management of information, tracking of drugs along their supply chain, and aspects of security and privacy. As we are aware that there are other surveys of blockchain in healthcare, we analyze and compare both the positive and negative aspects of their papers. Finally, we seek to examine the concepts of blockchain in the medical area, by assessing their benefits and drawbacks and thus giving guidance to other researchers in the area. Additionally, we summarize the methods used in healthcare per application area and show their pros and cons.

Keywords:  
Blockchain
Healthcare
Data immutability
Privacy
Transparency
Decentralization
Distributed ledgers

Author(s) Name:  Erikson Júlio De Aguiar , Bruno S. Faiçal , Bhaskar Krishnamachari , Jó Ueyama

Publisher name:  ACM

DOI:  10.1145/3376915

Volume Information:  Volume 53,Issue 2,March 2021, Article No.: 27,pp 1–27

Paper Link:   https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/3376915