Blockchain technology in health care an extensive scoping review of the existing applications, challenges, and future directions
Keywords:
Blockchain; Healthcare; Electronic Health Records; Interoperability; Privacy; Scoping Review; Federated Learning; Healthcare MetaverseAbstract
Health care is confronting long-standing problems with data fragmentation, security hacks, and minimal interoperability. Blockchain technology represents a decentralized, immutable, and transparent solution that may solve these systemic problems. This scoping review synthesizes recent literature (2020–2024) on blockchain applications in healthcare, focusing on major use cases, technology advancements, implementation challenges, and future directions. A systematic literature search was performed on SCOPUS, Web of Science, and PubMed. Studies were screened according to PRISMA-ScR guidelines, and data were extracted and thematically analyzed using NVivo and Python-based NLP tools. Five peer-reviewed studies were included. Major application areas identified were electronic health records (EHRs), clinical trials, pharmaceutical supply chains, identity management, and blockchain-IoT integration. Ethereum and Hyperledger Fabric were the most frequently adopted platforms. Reported benefits included enhanced data integrity, patient autonomy, and process efficiency. However, challenges such as scalability, regulatory compliance, and ethical concerns – particularly under GDPR remain significant. Blockchain has great potential to revolutionize healthcare systems. But its large-scale adoption is needed to overcome technical, legal, and organizational hurdles. Future research must address real-world pilots, interoperability standards, and ethical governance frameworks to inform scalable and sustainable integration.
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