Defining Blockchain-Based Techniques for Privacy Conflict-Resolution in Cross-Organizational Processes for E-Health Systems

Abstract

Despite the great potential for healthcare professionals, individuals, and researchers, the integration of healthcare information from personal health records (PHR) and electronic health records (EHR) systems is complicated because of structural and semantic heterogeneity, trust, and privacy. Healthcare data is an emotional issue because of fear of privacy violations. Blockchain technology enables a patient's data privacy, transparency, and immutability in cross-organizational processes where a patient regulates access to his data and is aware of its usage. At the same time, blockchain technology creates new challenges for e-healthcare systems such as data privacy, observability, and online enforceability. In the thesis, we propose a design of a secure blockchain-based and patient-centric system with a definition of PHR requirements, an ontology for privacy-conflict resolution, and management mechanisms. Throughout this research, we illustrate our ideas with a running case about preventive and personalized healthcare.