Blockchain-based Model for Health Information Exchange: A Case for Simulated Patient Referrals Using an Electronic Medical Record
Alison Ologenio Perez, Thelma Domingo Palaoag · IOP Conference Series Materials Science and Engineering · 2021
Abstract Health information exchange (HIE) has been recognized as an effective mechanism to improve service delivery. The benefits are compounded with the introduction of electronic medical records (EMR). Exchanging information between health facilities remain a challenge due to the absence of an integrated health information system and issues pertaining to data integrity. The emergence of blockchain has provided an innovative solution to data sharing challenges in security, transparency and accessibility. This paper aims to develop a framework for health information exchange between health facilities with the use of EMR and blockchain-based network. The EMR was developed with functionalities such as adding and updating patient profile and health records, referring patient to another facility and monitoring patients referred. These functionalities have been simulated using hypothetical test cases. The simulation has demonstrated blockchain-related functions such as registration of health facility in the network, defining consensus rules and adding patient referral transactions in the network. The description of the proposed framework, role of blockchain and key features of the prototype EMR is summarized in the conclusion part.