Blockchain for patients: perspectives of application in digital healthcare

This article analyzes the prospects and challenges of integrating blockchain technologies into medical data management systems within the context of digital healthcare transformation. The study's relevance stems from the growing need to establish secure, transparent, and patient-centric infrastructures for handling medical information. The paper provides a comparative analysis of public, private, and consortium blockchain platforms, identifying the consortium model as the most promising for creating data exchange ecosystems among various healthcare stakeholders. Technological aspects are examined in detail, including a hybrid storage architecture (combining blockchain with distributed file systems like InterPlanetary File System), models for dynamic and predictive informed patient consent based on smart contracts, and the application of blockchain in telemedicine and next-generation electronic health record (EHR) management. The article also systematizes key implementation challenges: the need to reconcile blockchain immutability with the right to be forgotten, the imperative for a transition to post-quantum cryptography, as well as issues of scalability, energy efficiency, legal regulation, and integration with existing medical information systems. The conclusion emphasizes that the successful implementation of blockchain solutions in Russian healthcare requires coordinated development of technological infrastructure (focusing on domestic platforms like "Masterchain"), adaptation of the regulatory framework, and targeted training of medical professionals with competencies in digital technologies.

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