IKTPLUSS-IKT og digital innovasjon

Our primary objective in this project is to facilitate solutions to the challenges of secure data sharing that healthcare registries are facing today. We aim to achieve this objective by leveraging on the rapidly developing technology of blockchain and smart contracts. Participation of the Cancer Registry of Norway as the technology validator will facilitate exploitation of the results. Increasing amounts of health data are recorded in health registries, with the strategic initiatives of data sharing and fusion across different registries in Norway. This forms an excellent opportunity for world-class medical research as few countries have such a high-quality infrastructure. However, it also constitutes a very high privacy risk should a security breach occur. Publicized incidents of leaked medical records pose a major challenge for the digital trust in eHealth where storing, accessing and exchanging sensitive patient-related data must comply with several regulations, while remaining accessible to authorized health practitioners. Governmental legislations regarding data privacy, such as the EU's GDPR, present an additional source of concern for healthcare registries which are now faced with severe legal and financial consequences in case data confidentiality is breached. Our principal approach is to facilitate solutions for health registries by using Smart Contracts and the emerging Blockchain Paradigm. From the data safety, authenticity, and nonrepudiation standpoint, blockchain is a perfect fit for sharing medical records since it provides an easily accessible, immutable, and transparent history of all contract-related data, adequate for building applications with trust and accountability. Use of smart contracts brings a number of additional advantages for sharing medical data by healthcare registries: consent management, fine-grain privacy control, transparency, and reduced bureaucracy and expenses. SmartMed is proposed in cooperation with the Cancer Registry of Norway (CRN), which will validate technological advances. CRN presently contains health information on over 1,4 million cancer patients. Managing and using the data for medical research in a secure way as to minimize any privacy concerns is paramount. Improving privacy control and transparency will bolster public's trust in the use of CRN data for vital research on preventive medicine. There have been a number of significant achievements in 2022: we have produced a survey paper which is the first systematic and comprehensive comparative study of blockchain design across different systems. Our previous survey paper analyzing the challenges and opportunities of blockchain technologies for healthcare storage systems has been accepted in a top tier journal. We have additionally published a survey paper analyzing blockchain verification and validation solutions. We have proposed a generic model of Identity Management Systems, with applications in healthcare. We have produced a design of a verifiable consent management system compliant with data protection rules and regulations, such as GDPR and HIPAA. We are in the process of implementing the design at the CRN. The proposed blockchain solutions will further improve the security and privacy aspects in the healthcare sector.

Increasing amounts of health data are recorded in health registries, with the strategic initiatives of data sharing and fusion across different registries in Norway. This forms an excellent opportunity for world-class medical research as few countries have such a high-quality infrastructure. However, it also constitutes a very high privacy risk should a security breach occur. Publicized incidents of leaked medical records pose a major challenge for the digital trust in eHealth where storing, accessing and exchanging sensitive patient-related data must comply with several regulations, while remaining accessible to authorized health practitioners. Governmental legislations regarding data privacy, such as the EU's GDPR, present an additional source of concern for healthcare registries which are now faced with severe legal and financial consequences in case data confidentiality is breached. Our principal approach is to facilitate solutions for health registries by using Smart Contracts and the emerging Blockchain Paradigm. From the data safety, authenticity, and nonrepudiation standpoint, blockchain is a perfect fit for sharing medical records since it provides an easily accessible, immutable, and transparent history of all contract-related data, adequate for building applications with trust and accountability. Use of smart contracts brings a number of additional advantages for sharing medical data by healthcare registries: consent management, fine-grain privacy control, transparency, and reduced bureaucracy and expenses. SmartMed is proposed in cooperation with the Cancer Registry of Norway (CRN), which will validate technological advances. CRN presently contains health information on over 1,4 million cancer patients. Managing and using the data for medical research in a secure way as to minimize any privacy concerns is paramount. Improving privacy control and transparency will bolster public's trust in the use of CRN data for vital research on preventive medicine.

Publications from Cristin

Funding scheme:

IKTPLUSS-IKT og digital innovasjon

2.3BILL. NOKtotal funding in the programme period 618PROJECTShave received funding in the programme period 8SOURCEShave financed the programme

Funding Sources

Kommunal-og distriktsdepartementet Kunnskapsdepartementet – sektorovergripende Justis- og beredskapsdepartementet Diverse Samferdselsdepartementet Forsvarsdepartementet Nærings- og fiskeridepartementet Kunnskapsdepartementet

Thematic Areas and Topics

Politikk- og forvaltningsområder Offentlig administrasjon og forvaltning Helse Samfunnsmedisinsk og annen helsefaglig forskning IKT LTP2 Et kunnskapsintensivt næringsliv i hele landet Portefølje Demokrati, styring og fornyelse Portefølje Naturvitenskap og teknologi IKT IKT - Som fag og teknologi Fornyelse og innovasjon i offentlig sektor Forskning for fornyelse av offentlig sektor Helse LTP2 Styrket konkurransekraft og innovasjonsevne Politikk- og forvaltningsområder Digitalisering IKT forskningsområde Kunstig intelligens, maskinlæring og dataanalyse Bransjer og næringer Annen tjenesteyting Anvendt forskning Fornyelse og innovasjon i offentlig sektor Politikk- og forvaltningsområder LTP2 Fornyelse i offentlig sektor Grunnforskning Portefølje Helse IKT forskningsområde Digital sikkerhet IKT forskningsområde Menneske, samfunn og teknologi LTP2 Helse, forebygging og behandling LTP2 Utvikle fagmiljøer av fremragende kvalitet LTP2 Samfunnsikkerhet, sårbarhet og konflikt Bransjer og næringer LTP2 IKT og digital transformasjon LTP2 Muliggjørende og industrielle teknologier LTP2 Fagmiljøer og talenter Digitalisering og bruk av IKT IKT forskningsområde Bransjer og næringer IKT-næringen Portefølje Muliggjørende teknologier Politikk- og forvaltningsområder Forsvar og sikkerhet Samfunnssikkerhet LTP2 Samfunnssikkerhet og samhørighet Etiske, juridiske og samfunnsmessige aspekter Politikk- og forvaltningsområder Forskning Digitalisering og bruk av IKT Offentlig sektor Portefølje Industri og tjenestenæringer Politikk- og forvaltningsområder Helse og omsorg LTP2 Innovasjon i stat og kommune

IKTPLUSS-IKT og digital innovasjon

SmartMed: Secure and accountable sharing of medical records using smart contracts and blockchain

Alternative title: Trygg oppbevaring og deling av helsedata gjennom bruk av smarte kontrakter og blokkjede

Awarded: NOK 16.9 mill.

Popular Science Description

Summary

Publications from Cristin

A Survey on Blockchain for Healthcare: Opportunities, Challenges, and Future Directions

Cascade: An Edge Computing Platform for Real-time Machine Intelligence

Building Fault-Tolerant Overlays with Low Node Degrees for Topic-based Publish/Subscribe

Privacy-Preserving Search for a Similar Genomic Makeup in the Cloud

A privacy-preserving framework for outsourcing location-based services to the cloud

Proceedings of the 20th International ACM/USENIX Middleware conference

Nysgjerrig på kryptovaluta? Slik kommer du i gang

Betaler for kryptokunst uten å motta verket

Derfor er krypto-sporing «umulig»

Blockchain er faget der studentene er lærere

A hands-on Tutorial: Blockchain and Smart Contract Deployment

Norway Blockchain: Secure Sharing of Medical Records

Deconstructing Blockchains: Concepts, Systems, and Insights

Towards Useful Proof of Work: combining Blockchain and Machine Learning

Understanding Blockchain: Definitions, Properties, Architecture, and Comparisons

Blockchain Tutorial on Smart Contracts

Blockchain and Smart Contract Deployment

Understanding blockchain: definitions, architecture, design, and system comparison

Privacy-Preserving Identification of Target Patients from Outsourced Patient Data

A privacy-preserving framework for outsourcing location-based services to the cloud

Blockchain Landscape and AI Renaissance: The Bright Path Forward

Funding scheme:

IKTPLUSS-IKT og digital innovasjon

Funding Sources

Thematic Areas and Topics