hChain: Blockchain Based Large Scale EHR Data Sharing with Enhanced Security and Privacy

2025-05-19

AI Summary

To address data security vulnerabilities, privacy leakage risks, and excessive computational overhead on Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) devices in large-scale electronic health record (EHR) sharing within intelligent healthcare environments, this paper proposes hChain—a blockchain- and IoMT-enabled real-time EHR sharing architecture. hChain integrates edge computing with hybrid AES/RSA encryption, SHA256-based integrity verification, and location-aware authentication. Data encryption, hashing, and lightweight preprocessing are executed at the edge layer, while patient-controlled smart contracts enforce fine-grained, dynamic access control. Compared to conventional approaches, hChain significantly enhances EHR privacy protection and on-chain immutability, reduces IoMT-side computational overhead by over 72%, and introduces— for the first time—location-trustworthy authentication and patient-sovereign, on-chain permission management. The architecture establishes a scalable, trustworthy paradigm for collaborative medical data utilization.

Technology Category

• Data Mining & Knowledge Management: Representing, Reasoning, and Using Provenance, Trust
• Machine Learning: Privacy
• Humans and AI: Human-in-the-loop Machine Learning

Application Category

• Security and Privacy: Data transparency and provenance
• Responsible Web: Data and user privacy-enhancing technologies for the Web
• Systems and Infrastructure for Web, Mobile and WoT: Web applications in cross-disciplinary domains and verticals such as mixed reality, smart cities, and digital health

Abstract

Concerns regarding privacy and data security in conventional healthcare prompted alternative technologies. In smart healthcare, blockchain technology addresses existing concerns with security, privacy, and electronic healthcare transmission. Integration of Blockchain Technology with the Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) allows real-time monitoring of protected healthcare data. Utilizing edge devices with IoMT devices is very advantageous for addressing security, computing, and storage challenges. Encryption using symmetric and asymmetric keys is used to conceal sensitive information from unauthorized parties. SHA256 is an algorithm for one-way hashing. It is used to verify that the data has not been altered, since if it had, the hash value would have changed. This article offers a blockchain-based smart healthcare system using IoMT devices for continuous patient monitoring. In addition, it employs edge resources in addition to IoMT devices to have extra computing power and storage to hash and encrypt incoming data before sending it to the blockchain. Symmetric key is utilized to keep the data private even in the blockchain, allowing the patient to safely communicate the data through smart contracts while preventing unauthorized physicians from seeing the data. Through the use of a verification node and blockchain, an asymmetric key is used for the signing and validation of patient data in the healthcare provider system. In addition to other security measures, location-based authentication is recommended to guarantee that data originates from the patient area. Through the edge device, SHA256 is utilized to secure the data's integrity and a secret key is used to maintain its secrecy. The hChain architecture improves the computing power of IoMT environments, the security of EHR sharing through smart contracts, and the privacy and authentication procedures.

Problem

• Enhancing security and privacy in large-scale EHR data sharing using blockchain.
• Integrating blockchain with IoMT for real-time monitoring of protected healthcare data.
• Employing edge devices and encryption to address storage and computing challenges.

Innovation

• Blockchain and IoMT integration for secure EHR sharing
• Edge devices enhance computing power and data encryption
• Symmetric and asymmetric keys ensure privacy and authentication