A Blockchain-based Service Provider Validation and Verification Framework for Health-care Virtual Organization

Virtual organization (VO) and blockchain are two newly emerging technologies that researchers are exploring their potentials to solve many information and communication technology unaddressed problems and challenges. Health care is one of the sectors that are very dynamic, and it is in need of constant improvement in the quest to better the quality of cares and reduce cost. One of the hotlines of research in the sector is the use of information and communication technology to provide health care, and this is where the concept of virtual health care is relevant. In virtual health care, patients and care providers are collaborating in virtual settings where two of the most difficult challenges are verifying and validating the identity of the communicating parties and the information exchanged. In this paper, we propose a conceptual framework using blockchain technology to address the health-care provider and record verification and validation issue. The framework is specific to health-care systems developed based on Virtual Breeding Environment and VO. We outline and explain each step in the the framework and demonstrate its applicability in a simple health-care scenario. This paper contributes toward the continuing effort to address user identity and information verification and validation issues in virtual settings in general and in health care in specific.