AUTHOR=Bautista John Robert , Harrell Daniel Toshio , Hanson Ladd , de Oliveira Eliel , Abdul-Moheeth Mustafa , Meyer Eric T. , Khurshid Anjum TITLE=MediLinker: a blockchain-based decentralized health information management platform for patient-centric healthcare JOURNAL=Frontiers in Big Data VOLUME=6 YEAR=2023 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/big-data/articles/10.3389/fdata.2023.1146023 DOI=10.3389/fdata.2023.1146023 ISSN=2624-909X ABSTRACT=

Patients' control over how their health information is stored has been an ongoing issue in health informatics. Currently, most patients' health information is stored in centralized but siloed health information systems of healthcare institutions, rarely connected to or interoperable with other institutions outside of their specific health system. This centralized approach to the storage of health information is susceptible to breaches, though it can be mitigated using technology that allows for decentralized access. One promising technology that offers the possibility of decentralization, data protection, and interoperability is blockchain. In 2019, our interdisciplinary team from the University of Texas at Austin's Dell Medical School, School of Information, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Information Technology Services developed MediLinker—a blockchain-based decentralized health information management platform for patient-centric healthcare. This paper provides an overview of MediLinker and outlines its ongoing and future development and implementation. Overall, this paper contributes insights into the opportunities and challenges in developing and implementing blockchain-based technologies in healthcare.