A Review on Blockchain-Based Strategies for Management of Electronic Health Records (EHRs)

Blockchain technology has been applied extensively in the fields of finance (as cryptocurrency), supply chain, real estate and has persistently promising scope for implementation in newer, broader ways. Blockchain not only focuses on making data easily accessible to its users over a peer-to-peer network but also ensures the security of data using encryption mechanisms. With monumental advances in healthcare technology in the past decade, the storage, access, and management of electronic medical data have become cumbersome. Electronic Health Record (EHR) handling demands privacy as well as improved accessibility. Blockchain technology provides an opportunity to find the balance between both the security and easy accessibility aspects of the EHRs. Furthermore, storing the EHRs on Blockchain will ensure that the transactions carried out on the EHRs are transparent and the EHRs are not subject to unauthorized modification. In this paper, we aim to review existing Blockchain-based paradigms for the management of Electronic Health Records and assess plausible directions for the scope of Blockchain in the future of management of medical data.