Conceptualising Blockchain-Based Consent Management in Multi-Provider Healthcare Environment

Abstract

The entire consent process of patients involving multiple providers is an extremely important yet very problematic aspect of the prevailing digital healthcare environment. The common infrastructure of traditional consent mechanisms, which are usually made of paper, fragmented, and institution-specific, does not give the patient appropriate control over their personal health information and impedes the flow of data between healthcare from one entity to another. This research paper will suggest the conceptual framework to manage consent using blockchain technology in a multi-provider healthcare setting. The framework is built on the decentralized (blockchain), smart contracts, and immutable blockchain ledger to promote better transparency, patient autonomy, and overall operational efficiency in healthcare facilities and organizations. The most crucial ones are the concept of digital identity, off-chain data storage, and auditable access logs, which ensure that the patient can issue and revoke or change consent in real time. Still, data privacy and compliance with regulatory frameworks can be maintained (including GDPR and HIPAA). Stakeholders, patients, providers, and governments introduce a defined relationship where the exchange is safe, interoperable, and ethically friendly. The discussion compares the model with the traditional systems in terms of granularity of consent, trouble with interoperability, and inefficiencies on the part of the administration. Despite noting possible impediments to its development (the problem of scalability, digital literacy, and regulatory harmonization) and a solution regarding its practical implementation (the use of hybrid models of blockchain, standardization of protocol, and multi-stakeholder governance), there is a sensible solution in the study, also. Finally, this study offers an innovative solution to state that the patient should be the center of the data management process, opening th e way toward secure, trustworthy, and patient-centered digital health environments.