Blockchain in healthcare and health sciences-A scoping review. Hasselgren Anton,Kralevska Katina,Gligoroski Danilo,Pedersen Sindre A,Faxvaag Arild International journal of medical informatics BACKGROUND:Blockchain can be described as an immutable ledger, logging data entries in a decentralized manner. This new technology has been suggested to disrupt a wide range of data-driven domains, including the health domain. OBJECTIVE:The purpose of this study was to systematically review, assess and synthesize peer-reviewed publications utilizing/proposing to utilize blockchain to improve processes and services in healthcare, health sciences and health education. METHOD:A structured literature search on the topic was conducted in October 2018 relevant bibliographic databases. RESULT:39 publications fulfilled the inclusion criteria. The result indicates that Electronic Health Records and Personal Health Records are the most targeted areas using blockchain technology. Access control, interoperability, provenance and data integrity are all issues that are meant to be improved by blockchain technology in this field. Ethereum and Hyperledger fabric seem to be the most used platforms/frameworks in this domain. CONCLUSION:This study shows that the endeavors of using blockchain technology in the health domain are increasing exponentially. There are areas within the health domain that potentially could be highly impacted by blockchain technology. 10.1016/j.ijmedinf.2019.104040

Comparison of blockchain platforms: a systematic review and healthcare examples. Kuo Tsung-Ting,Zavaleta Rojas Hugo,Ohno-Machado Lucila Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association : JAMIA OBJECTIVES:To introduce healthcare or biomedical blockchain applications and their underlying blockchain platforms, compare popular blockchain platforms using a systematic review method, and provide a reference for selection of a suitable blockchain platform given requirements and technical features that are common in healthcare and biomedical research applications. TARGET AUDIENCE:Healthcare or clinical informatics researchers and software engineers who would like to learn about the important technical features of different blockchain platforms to design and implement blockchain-based health informatics applications. SCOPE:Covered topics include (1) a brief introduction to healthcare or biomedical blockchain applications and the benefits to adopt blockchain; (2) a description of key features of underlying blockchain platforms in healthcare applications; (3) development of a method for systematic review of technology, based on the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) statement, to investigate blockchain platforms for healthcare and medicine applications; (4) a review of 21 healthcare-related technical features of 10 popular blockchain platforms; and (5) a discussion of findings and limitations of the review. 10.1093/jamia/ocy185