Multi-chain Blockchain for Healthcare Interoperability
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Solution Overview
Problem
Healthcare information systems face challenges in interoperability and data sharing due to compliance with regulations like HIPAA and GDPR, leading to data silos, increased costs, and limited efficacy in medical treatment outcomes, as well as difficulties in determining treatment costs and comparing metrics across different approaches.
Innovation Solution
A processor-implemented method that receives and transmits encrypted Electronic Health Record (EHR) and Drug/Device Information (DIR) sub-blocks, augmenting a multi-dimensional blockchain with transaction information, enabling secure and compliant data sharing between entities while maintaining patient privacy and facilitating cost determination and treatment selection.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If healthcare information is encrypted and shared across multiple entities, then interoperability and data sharing are improved, but system complexity and security management become more difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the blockchain into multiple chains, each maintained by different healthcare entities (hospitals, clinics, labs). Each entity has its own chain with data encrypted using its specific keys, allowing independent management while enabling interoperability through the multi-chain architecture. This segmentation reduces the complexity any single entity must manage while improving overall system interoperability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a multi-chain blockchain system as an intermediary layer between different healthcare entities. This intermediary enables secure data sharing and interoperability without requiring direct integration between all entities, simplifying the system architecture while maintaining adaptability across diverse healthcare providers.
2Productivity
If patient data is shared across multiple healthcare entities, then treatment outcomes and cost determination are improved, but patient privacy and data security risks increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements local quality by encrypting data with entity-specific keys so that each healthcare entity can only access and decrypt data relevant to its own operations. Patient data maintains different security properties at different locations in the multi-chain system, allowing broad sharing for treatment efficacy while maintaining localized security controls to mitigate privacy risks.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies preliminary action by encrypting patient data with appropriate keys before sharing it across the multi-chain blockchain system. This pre-encryption ensures that data security is established before data exchange occurs, enabling productive data sharing while preemptively protecting against security risks and privacy breaches.
3Loss of information
If comprehensive treatment information is made available across the healthcare system, then cost transparency and treatment selection are improved, but information security and access control become more challenging
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a universal multi-chain blockchain system that serves multiple functions simultaneously: it provides comprehensive information transparency for cost determination and treatment selection, while also implementing granular access control through entity-specific encryption keys. The same system architecture supports both information sharing and security enforcement, reducing the difficulty of managing access control while maintaining transparency.
4Loss of energy
If data silos are broken and information is shared systemically, then healthcare costs are reduced, but compliance with privacy regulations like HIPAA and GDPR becomes more difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the security parameters by implementing a multi-chain blockchain architecture where data is encrypted with entity-specific keys. This parameter change allows systematic data sharing that reduces healthcare costs while automatically maintaining compliance with HIPAA and GDPR through the cryptographic security model, reducing the complexity of regulatory compliance management.
Data Source
AI summary
Embodiments facilitate interoperability and secure determination of healthcare costs. An entity may receive a first Electronic Health Record (EHR) sub-block with patient medical coverage information and first treatments and may transmit a first Device Drug Information (DIR) sub-block comprising first treatment classes corresponding to each first treatment, first treatment class members corresponding to each first treatment class, and corresponding first treatment class member cost information. In response, the entity may receive a second EHR sub-block comprising second treatments each: associated with a corresponding first treatment, and selected from corresponding first treatment class members. Upon receipt of a transaction confirmation, the entity may augment a multi-dimensional blockchain with a multi-dimensional block formed by linking: a DIR block including second treatment information, an EHR block including information based on the second EHR sub-block and a transaction block. Payment assistance information determined from the second EHR block may be transmitted to a patient.