The Use of Blockchain for Digital Identity Management in Healthcare

Digitalization has occurred in almost all industries, one of them is health industry. Patients” medical records are now easier to be accessed and managed as all related data are stored in data storages or repositories. However, this system is still under development as number of patients still increasing. Lack of standardization might lead to patients losing their right to control their own data. Therefore, implementing private blockchain system with Self-Sovereign Identity (SSI) concept for identity management in health industry is a viable notion. With SSI, the patients will be benefited from having control over their own medical records and stored with higher security protocol. While healthcare providers will benefit in Know You Customer (KYC) process, if they handle new patients, who move from other healthcare providers. It will eliminate and shorten the process of updating patients' medical records from previous healthcare providers. Therefore, we suggest several flows in implementing blockchain for digital identity in healthcare industry to help overcome lack of patient's data control and KYC in current system. Nevertheless, implementing blockchain on health industry requires full attention from surrounding system and stakeholders to be realized.