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8.4 HOW BLOCKCHAIN IS APPLICABLE FOR HEALTHCARE BIG DATA 213

8.4.4 DIGITAL SUPPLY CHAIN
Kim and Laskowski [63] described a digital supply chain (DSC) system where each stakeholder of the
healthcare industry can track every service. A food product, medicine, healthcare product, insurance
product etc. can be tracked through the DSC. Tian [64] and Aitken [65] proposed a food and agricul-
tural product supply chain lifecycle using blockchain technology. Shae and Tsai [66] introduced a
blockchain-protected medicine and clinical product supply chain system. A major blockchain benefit
is that it contains a public ledger of the dealings without the individuality of the involved party. A pub-
lic key infrastructure (PKI) is used by blockchain to notify each party. Each of the data or service pro-
viders in the healthcare supply chain can verify the transaction. Every aspect of the contract can be
checked by this technology and if one of the aspects is missing then anybody can abandon it at any
time. Another study by Chhetri et al. [67] described how secure a digital supply chain is for future
industry architecture.

8.4.5 CYBERSECURITY
Data stored by blockchain technology are immutable. This is a tamper-proof technology for storing
any contract, decision, transaction, and information. The Pentagon and Washington Times stated
that US military sees this technology as a cybersecurity shield. Blockchain technology stores data
in a distributed way. However, this decentralizedwayof informationstorage canreducedatama-
nipulation. Nugent et al. [68] described clinical data distribution and sharing by blockchain tech-
nology. Matanovi c [69] reported blockchain as a secure technology because of the hash algorithm,
the consensus algorithm, and data immutability. A study by Maddux [70] described the opportunity
of blockchain technology in the healthcare big data sector. This study mentioned data portability
and distribution can be more secure using this technology. Blockchain stores every detail of a data
distribution so interparty (data owners and researchers) communication develops in context with
information validation, time proof, and identity justification etc. According to IBM and Ponemon,
healthcare information leaking costs approximately $380 USD per second whereas industry sector
data breaching costs only $141 USD per second. To reduce this cybercrime, blockchain can extend
its secure system [71]. An overview of benefits offered by blockchain technology is mentioned
below in Fig. 8.14.
The healthcare big data challenges and blockchain opportunities are mentioned in Fig. 8.15.
Table 8.4 explains the details on how blockchain technology is capable of meeting the demand by
healthcare big data.
Examples of blockchain use: Several examples of how blockchain technology is used in the
healthcare sector are given below:
Medical devices, IoT, and big data: Several studies [35–39] have highlighted the privacy and se-
curity concerns regarding existing IoT systems and blockchain is a well-organized technology that can
reduce that security threat. Medical and IoT devices used for healthcare and medical purposes produce
a huge amount of clinical data. On one side, blockchain can create a smart ecosystem in their produc-
tion lifecycle (supply chain). On the other side, the produced data can be tracked while moving from
one party to another party. A longitudinal health record linking platform can be created across various
healthcare organizations.