Enhancing healthcare records management: a blockchain-based system for secure and efficient handling of electronic health records

Ensuring the secure processing of patient health records – maintained across various healthcare organizations throughout a patient’s lifetime – is a growing challenge, especially given the increasing volume of data and the rise in cyber-attacks targeting healthcare systems. These records contain critical information such as diagnoses and medications, which must be protected as they are shared across interconnected clinical systems. This paper aims to design and implement a secure, decentralized system for managing Electronic Health Records (EHRs) using blockchain technology and smart contracts. The objective is to improve the privacy, integrity, and accessibility of medical data while enabling patients to control access to their records. The proposed system was developed using a private blockchain integrated with a cloud database and was evaluated through functional testing, system architecture modelling, and algorithmic simulations. Key components include smart contracts for access management, cryptographic hashing for data integrity, and role-based access control for ensuring appropriate data permissions. The results demonstrate that the system achieves the desired levels of security, transparency, and traceability, while maintaining scalability and usability in real-world healthcare settings. This study confirms the practical feasibility of blockchain-based EHR systems and their potential to transform healthcare data management.