Blockchain Platform for Secure Healthcare Data Sharing

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Solution Overview

Problem

Organizations with healthcare data lack expertise to derive insights, while those with expertise lack data, and both face challenges in obtaining fair value for their assets, necessitating improved methods for data sharing and resource collaboration.

Innovation Solution

A computer-implemented method and system using machine learning models trained on healthcare data, with a blockchain to record transactions, track dependencies, and ensure compliance, facilitating access and usage through a uniform resource locator and smart contracts.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Productivity

If healthcare data is shared among organizations, then the ability to obtain insights and create value is improved, but data security and regulatory compliance become more difficult to maintain

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveability to obtain insights from healthcare dataVSAvoiddata security and regulatory compliance
Core Design Contradiction:
ProductivityVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The patent introduces a blockchain-based intermediary platform that mediates between data owners and service providers. The blockchain ledger records all data access and usage transactions immutably, enabling trusted sharing while maintaining security and compliance through transparent, auditable operations without requiring direct trust between participating organizations.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

Solution Approach 2:

The system implements feedback mechanisms through smart contracts that automatically track and record data usage, model training, and inference operations. This creates a closed-loop system where data access is monitored, valued, and compensated in real-time, ensuring regulatory compliance while enabling productive data sharing across multiple organizations.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #23Feedback

2Reliability

If machine learning models are developed using healthcare data, then the quality of healthcare services is improved, but the complexity of managing data access and model sharing increases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvequality of healthcare servicesVSAvoidcomplexity of managing data access and model sharing
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent implements self-service mechanisms through automated smart contracts that handle data access requests, model training permissions, and usage tracking without manual intervention. The blockchain system automatically manages the complex permissions and transactions, reducing administrative overhead while maintaining high-quality service delivery through consistent, rule-based access control.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #25Self-service

Solution Approach 2:

The blockchain platform serves multiple functions simultaneously: it acts as a secure data registry, a model training authorization system, a usage tracking ledger, and a compensation mechanism. This multi-functional approach consolidates what would otherwise require separate complex systems into a single unified platform, reducing overall system complexity.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #6Universality (Multi-functionality)

3Reliability

If organizations retain ownership of their healthcare data and models, then control and security are improved, but collaboration and resource sharing become difficult

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvecontrol and security of data and modelsVSAvoidcollaboration and resource sharing
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSAdaptability or versatility

Solution Approach 1:

The patent segments data ownership and access rights into transferable, granular units recorded on the blockchain. Organizations can divide their data and model access permissions into specific tokens or rights that can be selectively shared with different partners for specific purposes, maintaining overall control while enabling flexible collaboration across multiple organizations.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

Data Source

PatentUS11250937B2System and method to share and utilize healthcare data
Publication Date: 2022.02.15 INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINE CORPORATION
  • US11250937B2 patent drawing
  • US11250937B2 patent drawing
  • US11250937B2 patent drawing

AI summary

A computer-implemented method, system and computer program product for sharing and utilizing healthcare data, by: providing one or more computer-implemented machine learning models for analyzing the healthcare data; and recording transactions involving the machine learning models using a blockchain as a distributed ledger that is shared, replicated and synchronized. Healthcare data is also used to train the machine learning models. The healthcare data comprises research data or patient data such as Electronic Medical Records (EMRs). A smart contract that is a computer-implemented protocol is used to facilitate, verify or enforce negotiation of the transactions involving the machine learning models or healthcare data.