August2016MovingTowardaBlockchain-basedMethodfortheSecureStorageofPatientRecordsDrewIvandrew.ivan@gmail.com2AbstractToday’smethodsofrecordingandsharingpatientdatahaveanumberoflimitationsthatrestrictpatients’accesstotheirclinicalrecords,reduceavailabilityofessentialdatatocareproviders,andultimatelypresentabarriertotransformingU.S.healthcareintoalearninghealthsystem.Storingpatienthealthcaredatainablockchain-basedstorageschemecanremediatetheseshortcomings.Thispaperdiscussesblockchainasanovelapproachtosecurehealthdatastorage,implementationobstacles,andaplanfortransitioningincrementallyfromcurrenttechnologytoablockchainsolution.OverviewofToday’sEnvironmentAsrecentlyas2008,lessthan10percentofmedicalrecordswerestoredelectronically(Figure1)1.Paperbasedrecordsaredifficulttomoveorcopyfromtheiroriginallocationtootherplacesofserviceordirectlytothepatient.Today,nearlyallmedicalrecordsarestoredinelectronichealthrecord(EHR)systems,yetdataremainslargelynon-portable.Severalfactorscontributetothedifficultyofprovidingandcontrollingaccesstohealthcaredata.ManyhealthcareproviderserronthesideofcautionwheninterpretingHIPAArequirements2,sharingdataonlywhenabsolutelyrequired.Thisextendstorestrictingpatientsandtheirproxiesfromaccessingdataabouttheirownhealth.Someinstitutionsperceivedatastewardshipasacompetitiveadvantage.Owningthepatient’smedicalrecordpromotes“stickiness,”whilesharingitallowsthepatienttoseekcarefromanotherinstitution.Healthcareprovidersperceivethepatient’smedicalrecordastheirpropertyratherthanthepatient’s.Whilethisistrueinalegalsense3,itcreatesunnecessaryandsometimescostlyobstaclesforpatientsthatneedorwanttomovetheirmedicalrecordstoanotherlocation.MeaningfulUse,theprogramresponsibleforthefastadoptionofEHRsinthepastsevenyears,requiresthatprovidersenablepatientswiththecapabilitytoview,download,andtransmittheirrecordstootherlocations4.Mostproviderstodayaresharingatleastsomedatawithexternalsystems5,indicatinglimitedprogressinthisarea;however,thestatusquoremainsthatinfor...
