Blockchain for Consent Management in the eHealth Environment: A Nugget for Privacy and Security Challenges

TLDR

In the digital age, personal data security and privacy are major concerns, especially in eHealth where patient data must meet regulatory compliance while remaining accessible to authorized practitioners. Blockchain’s characteristics enable effective consent management, as demonstrated by an implementation in a health domain use case.

Abstract

In our digital world, access to personal data has become an item of concern, with challenging security and privacy aspects. Occurrences of hacking intentions and privacy violations make digital trust a major challenge. This is true in the eHealth area where management of patient health data must comply with many regulations, while remaining accessible to duly authorised health practitioners. Most will have heard about Blockchain because of its most known application - Bitcoin - in the payment area. However, Blockchain’s characteristics make it possible to fulfill the requirements of consent management, as illustrated in an implementation within a health domain use case.