ACHealthChain blockchain framework for access control and privacy preservation in healthcare

Area of Science:

• * Health Informatics
• * Cybersecurity
• * Blockchain Technology

Background:

• * Centralized healthcare data management systems face significant security and privacy risks, including unauthorized access and data breaches.
• * Existing access control mechanisms struggle to provide robust protection against data leakage and improper sharing.
• * The need for a secure, transparent, and decentralized approach to healthcare data management is critical.

Purpose of the Study:

• * To propose ACHealthChain, a novel blockchain-based framework for secure and transparent healthcare data access control.
• * To leverage Hyperledger Fabric and InterPlanetary File System (IPFS) for decentralized storage and privacy preservation.
• * To enhance auditing and accountability through a dedicated logging mechanism.

Main Methods:

• * Development of ACHealthChain using Hyperledger Fabric for decentralized access control and privacy via channels.
• * Integration of IPFS for decentralized data storage.
• * Implementation of PolicyChain for fine-grained access control and LogChain for enhanced auditing.

Main Results:

• * ACHealthChain demonstrated a 19.7% improvement in throughput and an 87% reduction in latency compared to existing frameworks.
• * Scalability analysis confirmed the framework's ability to handle increasing workloads in expanding networks.
• * The framework successfully structured patient health data into separate subchains for EHRs and diagnoses with permissioned access.

Conclusions:

• * ACHealthChain offers a promising solution for secure and efficient healthcare data sharing.
• * The decentralized framework significantly enhances privacy, confidentiality, and accountability in health data management.
• * The framework's performance and scalability suggest strong potential for real-world healthcare applications.