Table 1.

Existing blockchain solutions and design features.

Design features	Blockchain capability and components required	Benefits and improvements
Medical data access; medical records for distant consultations; patient data and prescription	Decentralized network Smart contract Tamper resistance	Patient outreach: extend the reach and expand health care services to patients Data provenance: clinical data; patient data
Medical services processing	Transparency Peer-to-peer communication Smart contract	Convenience: conveniently monitor and manage long-term patient care Workforce limitations: minimize patient access and workforce limitation issues
Video conferencing	Peer-to-peer communication Data provenance Smart contract	Effectiveness: present more effective use of health care provider’s time slots Throughput: assist physicians to serve more patients Diagnosis time: prevent delay of diagnosis for certain deadly conditions or diseases Social distance: prevent the spread of airborne infections Revenue: provide new streams of revenue to physicians and hospitals
Epidemiology reporting and remote monitoring	Peer-to-peer communication Smart contract Data provenance	Convenience: conveniently monitor and manage long-term patient care Throughput: assist physicians to serve more patients
Diagnostics support; emergency service and translation support	Peer-to-peer communication Data provenance Smart contract	Convenience: conveniently monitor and manage long-term patient care Data provenance
Treatment support and doctor recommendation	Immutability Smart contract Data provenance	Data provenance Throughput: assist physicians to support more patients
Patient data aggregation	Immutability Peer-to-peer communication Data provenance Smart contract	Identity management Access control: authorize participants without a central authority
Visit arrangement	Peer-to-peer communication Smart contract	Convenience: conveniently arrange patient care Throughput: assist physicians to serve more patients
Medicine ordering and drug tracking	Immutability Data provenance Smart contract	Convenience: conveniently monitor and manage long-term patient care Data provenance
Automated payments for billing and claims	Immutability Data provenance Smart contract	Automated execution: payment settlement Data provenance Immutability: ledger service
Fundraising	Data provenance Smart contract	Identity management: manage user identities Anonymity: preserve patient anonymity Immutability: ledger service