Blockchain Technology Projects to Provide Telemedical Services: Systematic Review

Area of Science:

• Digital Health
• Health Informatics
• Blockchain Technology

Background:

• Telemedicine services are a key area for healthcare innovation.
• Integrating blockchain technology presents new digital solutions in healthcare.
• The convergence of telemedicine and blockchain is expanding the digital health market.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review the feasibility of implementing blockchain technology within telemedicine services.
• To identify and analyze existing blockchain-based solutions for healthcare applications.

Main Methods:

• Systematic literature searches were conducted across major scientific databases (PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, IEEE Xplore, Google Scholar).
• Blockchain-based projects were also identified through general web searches due to limited publications.
• Selection criteria were applied to 40 discovered projects, with 18 meeting the review's requirements.

Main Results:

• The review analyzed 18 blockchain-based telemedicine projects.
• Prevalent features included medical data access (78%), medical service processing (78%), diagnostic support (56%), and payment transactions (56%).
• Fundraising for telemedical instrument development was a feature in 28% of the projects.

Conclusions:

• Blockchain technology can be integrated into telemedicine and healthcare at various levels.
• Identified features like data access, service processing, and diagnostic support highlight blockchain's potential.
• Digital technologies, particularly blockchains, can accomplish a wide range of tasks in healthcare.