A Patient-Centric Blockchain-Based Framework with Layer-2 Integration for Secure and Scalable Healthcare Data Management

Today, personal data is vulnerable in the digital era, especially in the medical sector, where healthcare data is sensitive. Yet, it plays a significant role in deciding the health conditions of patients, doctors, and researchers. Healthcare data is associated with patients' history, adding more value and utility to patients, doctors, and Researchers. These data are usually stored in centralized databases, creating vulnerabilities and leading to cyber-attacks. Furthermore, some healthcare providers rely on third-party contractors for data storage, which can be expensive and unreliable since vendors use diverse security procedures. Ensuring the secure protection of data from cyber threats and breaches is vital. This study aims to design a framework that manages large volumes of data from numerous sources like laboratories and hospitals. As we know, the volume of healthcare data is persistently growing. To address these issues, we propose a blockchain-based Patient-Centric framework with layer-2 solutions for healthcare data management that enhances security, privacy, and transparency in handling sensitive medical information. The concept integrates blockchain technology and the Interplanetary File System (IPFS), a distributed cloud storage system. We created smart contracts in Solidity to promote safe interactions between patients and healthcare professionals, and a React application communicates with them using MetaMask. Layer-2 technology decreases congestion, allowing the system to process a wide range of transactions more effectively while maintaining performance and security. Furthermore, by keeping cryptographic proofs on-chain and huge files off-chain, our strategy improves data security and privacy while lowering storage costs.