Design and Implementation of a Blockchain-Based Access Control Framework to Mitigate Vulnerabilities in Electronic Health Records and Enhance Healthcare Cyber security

Abstract

The increasing adoption of Electronic Health Records (EHRs) in the healthcare industry has brought significant benefits, including improved patient care, enhanced data accessibility, and streamlined workflows. However, traditional EHR systems, relying on centralized architectures, face critical challenges such as data breaches, unauthorized access, and regulatory compliance. This study proposes a blockchain-based framework to address these issues by leveraging blockchain's decentralized, immutable, and cryptographically secure features. The framework employs smart contracts for dynamic access control, ensuring data integrity and accountability while adapting to real-time access requirements. Patient data is encrypted and stored off-chain, with only hashed references recorded on the blockchain, providing robust privacy and scalability. Additionally, the framework facilitates interoperability by integrating standardized healthcare data formats, enabling secure data exchange across disparate systems while adhering to regulations such as HIPAA and GDPR. Performance evaluation demonstrates the framework's superiority over traditional models in terms of transaction throughput, latency, and scalability, with practical applications in hospitals and telemedicine platforms. While challenges such as scalability and legacy system integration remain, this study establishes a foundation for secure, efficient, and patient-centric healthcare data management using blockchain technology.