BlockMedLedger: Secure Patient Health Records Using Blockchain and IPFS

Abstract

In this paper we present BlockMedLedger, a decentralized patient health record management system based on blockchain and IPFS. BlockMedLedger provides solutions to the challenges of healthcare data silos, security vulnerabilities and patient ownership of their own data. The patient centric model supports patients, medical data owners, to have complete control over their own medical data, while providing an efficient process to facilitate secure sharing of the medical data with care providers initiated through smart contracts and cryptographic access controls. The system uses an Ethereum compatible blockchain to support access control decision and IPFS for decentralized encrypted storage of encrypted medical records. The implementation demonstrates good security, efficient access, retrieval and sharing of encrypted health information for health care providers and patients while meeting requirements specified in HIPAA utilizing zero-knowledge proofs and patient consent control features.