Augmenting EHR Systems by Utilizing Blockchain Technology with unique Aadhar Identity System
Rahul Joshi, Krishna Pandey, Suman Kumari, Shashi Kant Gupta, Mitali Mohanty, Ayodeji Olalekan Salau · 2024
Currently, digital technologies are progressing swiftly in the modern era. Virtually every sector has reaped the rewards of this continuous transformation. The proposal to digitize medical records in the health industry was made several decades ago. Several wealthy nations have effectively embraced and executed Electronic Health Record (EHR) systems. India, along with other developing nations, continues to primarily depend on medical records that are documented on paper. Despite the existence of multiple electronic medical record management systems, they need help with interoperability, timely access, and storage. The existing systems need to be more robust in communicating and tracking medical records due to inadequate infrastructure and architecture. The COVID-19 pandemic underscored the imperative for an improved EHR (Electronic Health Record) system. The current system has two significant drawbacks: a lack of interoperability, resulting in delays in sharing of information, and a lack of standards, leading to compromised quality of data when shared. In order to address these problems, it is necessary to implement a comprehensive electronic health record system throughout the country. Another problem that arises is the need for a widely available UPI. In India, the 2ndmost populous country globally, Aadhar is the optimal choice for UPI, as it can facilitate the establishment of a national Electronic Health Record system. This paper introduces a framework for an EHR system that is interoperable, standardized, and unified. The system is built on blockchain technology and utilizes Aadhar as UPI. Utilizing blockchain as the foundation of this approach offers several benefits compared to a cloud-based system, including decentralization, enhanced immutability, traceability, and security.