Evaluation of a Blockchain-Based Prescription System and Data Source for National Research and Development

Abstract

In the Philippines, healthcare providers, government agencies, and research institutions use data from patient prescriptions to generate reports for health planning and decision-making. However, current e-prescription systems have vulnerabilities, including erroneous information, hacking attempts, a single point of failure, and medical fraud. In addition to affecting the quality of data reporting, these issues violate a patient’s rights to data privacy. One promising solution is a blockchain-based prescription system. Blockchain’s immutable ledger accurately traces medical fraud and erroneous information, while its decentralized nature reduces the impact of failures. Performance is an important consideration, as healthcare systems need to be scalable and time-sensitive. This study aims to understand the performance and security of blockchain-based prescription systems. It focuses on evaluating system performance and scalability when using different encryption algorithms. The study found that using the most secure technology had only a small performance impact for all prototype features except key generation and report viewing. In addition, the results suggest that the proposed system’s scalability is sufficient to service the entire Philippines. This knowledge will help improve prescription systems to protect patients’ rights and improve report reliability.