Authors:
Luigi Lella
and
Sergio Piersantelli
Affiliation:
Azienda Sanitaria Unica Regionale delle Marche, via Oberdan n.2, 60122 Ancona, Italy
Keyword(s):
eHealth, eHealth Applications, Design and Development of Methodologies for Healthcare IT.
Abstract:
Blockchain technology has been successfully used in many healthcare contexts, guaranteeing not only high security and privacy levels in clinical data management, but also the continuous updating of patient clinical pictures, to ensure the continuity of care and the reliability of data sources in statistical processing. These results are related to the peculiar features of this technology such as the distributed ledger, the chaincode, the encryption algorithms used to cypher information, the technological solutions used for block validation and the use of smart contracts. This article aims to present a possible solution based on blockchain technology to the problem of information management in the Chronic Care Model. The use of the blockchain makes it possible to create a patient-centred system that not only allows patients, or authorized people, to exercise a constant control over their health data, but it is also able to "contractualize" the agreements made in this regard together w
ith the collection of consent for the processing of health data. The blockchain also allows the preparation of validated data sources for the subsequent statistical processing to update process and outcome indicators and the risk prospects related to the care pathways activated for patients suffering from chronic pathologies.
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