Blockchain Approach to Medical Data Ownership

BioDataHero was a prototype for a blockchain platform on which patients decide who may access their medical data and can offer that access to research institutions and pharmaceutical companies in an auction. A team developed it at the hackathon Sensors & {data} in Heidelberg (20–22 July 2018); it won first prize for its business model.

→ see also: sicherlich, the follow-up project

Concept

Medical records, such as blood tests and sensor-derived health metrics, are treated as assets of the patient. The patient grants and revokes access at any time. Pharmaceutical companies and research institutions bid for access to anonymized data in an auction; the patient receives the payment. Anonymization is part of the core of the system.

Implementation

The backend is a blockchain written in Python. A proof-of-work mechanism validates the transactions that record access to medical data, and an auction algorithm settles the bids. The code is public: blockchain core, project repository, gist. A video shows impressions of the event.

Context

The prototype asked who holds a patient's data and whether access to it may be sold. In Germany the introduction of the electronic patient record (elektronische Patientenakte) has made ownership, security and consent a public question. BioDataHero answered with a market. Its successor sicherlich starts from a different premise: the record stays with the patient, and every recipient receives a revocable copy.