TY - JOUR
T1 - Trustworthy Healthcare Professional Credential Verification Using Blockchain Technology
AU - Alnuaimi, Aysha
AU - Hawashin, Diana
AU - Jayaraman, Raja
AU - Salah, Khaled
AU - Omar, Mohammed
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2013 IEEE.
PY - 2023
Y1 - 2023
N2 - Healthcare credentialing plays a vital role in ensuring the competence and integrity of healthcare professionals. However, the current credentials verification process suffers from time-consuming procedures due to the large number of intermediaries, limited information access, data fragmentation and the persistent risk of fraudulent credentials, leading to delayed hiring, increased administrative burden, and loss of trust and reputation in the healthcare system. In this paper, we utilize blockchain technology to enhance the credentialing process by streamlining the verification steps, improving data security, and providing stakeholders with confidence through secure storage of credentials. In addition, we utilize advanced security techniques, such as proxy re-encryption and cryptographic algorithms, to ensure the protection of sensitive data, facilitate secure communication, and prevent unauthorized access. We develop smart contracts which eliminate the need for intermediaries, automate the verification process, and enhance transparency and data integrity. We present system architecture, sequence diagrams, entity relationship diagrams, and the underlying algorithms of our blockchain-based solution. We discuss how our proposed solution attains the objectives outlined in the paper. We conduct cost evaluation and security analysis to validate the effectiveness of our solution. Additionally, we compare our proposed system with existing blockchain-based solutions, highlighting its novelty. The code of our smart contracts is made publicly available on GitHub.
AB - Healthcare credentialing plays a vital role in ensuring the competence and integrity of healthcare professionals. However, the current credentials verification process suffers from time-consuming procedures due to the large number of intermediaries, limited information access, data fragmentation and the persistent risk of fraudulent credentials, leading to delayed hiring, increased administrative burden, and loss of trust and reputation in the healthcare system. In this paper, we utilize blockchain technology to enhance the credentialing process by streamlining the verification steps, improving data security, and providing stakeholders with confidence through secure storage of credentials. In addition, we utilize advanced security techniques, such as proxy re-encryption and cryptographic algorithms, to ensure the protection of sensitive data, facilitate secure communication, and prevent unauthorized access. We develop smart contracts which eliminate the need for intermediaries, automate the verification process, and enhance transparency and data integrity. We present system architecture, sequence diagrams, entity relationship diagrams, and the underlying algorithms of our blockchain-based solution. We discuss how our proposed solution attains the objectives outlined in the paper. We conduct cost evaluation and security analysis to validate the effectiveness of our solution. Additionally, we compare our proposed system with existing blockchain-based solutions, highlighting its novelty. The code of our smart contracts is made publicly available on GitHub.
KW - Blockchain
KW - credentialing
KW - Ethereum
KW - healthcare
KW - smart contracts
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85174742091&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1109/ACCESS.2023.3322359
DO - 10.1109/ACCESS.2023.3322359
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85174742091
SN - 2169-3536
VL - 11
SP - 109669
EP - 109688
JO - IEEE Access
JF - IEEE Access
ER -