Blockchain platform for industrial healthcare: Vision and future opportunities

Medical data has become an essential element for industrial healthcare. The growth in medical data is accompanied by the need to process it in a secure manner. As the infrastructure of this industry consists of connected devices and software applications that communicate with other IT systems, the industrial healthcare market will be greatly impacted by the use of blockchain and the Internet of Things (IoT). These technologies will improve processing efficiency, the creation of business opportunities, requirement regulation, information security, and transparency. While sharing electronic health records can assist in improving diagnosis accuracy, privacy and security preservation are imperative. In the network of IoT devices, that exchange involves sensitive medical data; patient monitoring has to be totally secured against privacy risks and attacks. Delays in treatment progress and emergency treatments could also result in medical data security and confidentiality violations.

Applying blockchain technology to the healthcare industry could improve information security management; healthcare data could be analyzed and communicated while preserving the privacy and security of the data. Here we critically look at how these two key technologies (blockchain and IoT) – especially blockchain – will impact the healthcare industry.

Blockchain, Internet of Things, Industrial healthcare, Internet of Healthcare Things

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This research was supported, in part, by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (external link, opens in new window)  (NSERC).