Faculty of Higher Education: MedRec Blockchain Case Study Analysis

This document presents a comprehensive case study analysis of the MedRec blockchain-based Electronic Health Record (EHR) system. The report begins with an introduction, followed by a detailed feasibility analysis, including technical, economic, and operational aspects. The technical feasibility considers hardware, software, and human resources, while economic feasibility addresses privacy, security, and government support. Operational feasibility explores both in-house and outsourced development options. The report then delves into requirements analysis, outlining functional specifications such as account creation, record access, and prescription management, as well as non-functional specifications like system performance, ease of use, and data security. The study identifies key project constraints, including user adoption, system limitations, resource management, and deadlines. Furthermore, a project work breakdown structure is included to decompose tasks into manageable components. The conclusion highlights the system's promise, addresses integration challenges, and emphasizes the importance of decentralized solutions for security and privacy. Finally, the report provides a list of relevant references.

MED-REC
BLOCKCHAIN BASED HER SYSTEM

MedRec- Blockchain Technology based system
Table of Contents
1. Introduction...............................................................................................................2
2. Feasibility Analysis....................................................................................................2
3. Requirements Analysis...............................................................................................3
3.1. Functional Specification.................................................................................................3
3.2. Non-functional Specification..........................................................................................4
4. Project constraints.....................................................................................................4
5. Project Work Breakdown Structure............................................................................5
6. Conclusion.................................................................................................................6
7. References.................................................................................................................6
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MedRec- Blockchain Technology based system
1. Introduction
The report aims at finding the feasibility of proposed MedRec blockchain based Electronic
Health Record system. It covers all the aspects of feasibility i.e. technical, functional and
operational. In these aspects, all the factors are considers starting from budget to satisfying
requirements of proposed system. Along with feasibility, it is also required that requirement
specification of the system should also be conducted. The report covers both the functional
and non-functional requirements. This covers both business and non-business aspects of the
proposed system. Thereafter, the report discusses over the constraints of the proposed
MedRec system and concludes with the word Breakdown Structure of the system.
2. Feasibility Analysis
Technical Feasibility - The implementation of the proposed blockchain technology in
EHR would need advance technical resources both from the perspective of hardware,
software and human resources. Hardware shall include a robust network in which devices
are distributed and connected to single processor. Hence, a distributed implementation of
network shall be required. There are various industry experts who have in-depth
knowledge in distribution technology. Secondly. Software shall require implementation
of the algorithm on which blockchain technology has been framed and again industry is
flooded with developers. Hence, this requirement can also be easily fulfilled (Alman,
2018). All the requirements can be satisfied easily and overseeing organization can even
outsourced the development to other company who have right environment in place. Once
development is then , network experts can be hired by the organization to implement the
entire system.
Economic Feasibility – The privacy and security are increasing demands of patients.
They wish to have full control over their data. The governments are also taking these
concern seriously by upgrading the Healthcare systems upgraded with more secure
components. EHR are integral to healthcare, hence protecting it becomes a government
responsibility (Karame and Androulaki, 2016). Every government keeps a considerable
portion for the Healthcare, then budget should not be a concern. However, the
government should first create a proof of concept before implementing it in the entire
healthcare sector.
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MedRec- Blockchain Technology based system
Operational Feasibility – There are two ways in which the proposed MedRec can be
developed and implemented. One method in which the organization shall be handling the
entire development to deployment in their premises only by hiring resources to handle the
project. In other method, instead of handling all the development work in its premises, the
blockchain-EHR can be outsourced and just have an expert in-house to monitor the
development. Both ways are under the reach of the organization. The project would be
feasible because it will have all the required resources of organization (Tegarden, Dennis
and Wixom, 2013).
3. Requirements Analysis
3.1. Functional Specification
Functional requirements includes the key features of the system which should be
performed by it i.e. it specifies the behaviour of the system. Following are key
functional requirements of proposed MedRec system:
 Patient / doctor / 3rd party should be able to create an account on the system.
 Patient / doctor/ 3rd party should login in order to gain access to the system.
 Patient should be able to create privilege on the medical records. Only patient
can have full access to one’s medical records. However, patient should not
have access to all provider records (Scott, 2017).
 Users can create record-onboarding exceptions i.e. they should be able to limit
access to same record to different providers / patients.
 System should be able to provide data as and when required by care providers,
patients and regulatory bodies only after proper authentication.
 System should allow managing of prescriptions of the patients.
 Patient should be able to share data with a doctor of the choice. And the access
to a doctor cannot be shared with other doctor.
 Doctor should be able to enter the private code/key and authenticate to access
a shared record.
 Doctor should be able to unlock patient records.
 All users should be able to logout from the system (Kendall and Kendall,
2015).
 All users should be able to revoke access privilege in one instance.
 When a record is shared with any other party, a notification should be sent to
both sender and receiver.
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MedRec- Blockchain Technology based system
3.2. Non-functional Specification
Non-functional requirements are those aspects of the system which are not related
with the behaviour of the system. These requirements define how the system is
supposed to be. Following are key non-functional requirements of proposed MedRec
system:
 System should not crash under any load of transactions with the database.
 System should be able to function properly with low Internet speed.
 System should be easy to use with very low learning curve.
 System should ensure that all data remain encrypted and accessed only when a
valid code / key is entered.
 System should allow patients to secure their data while sharing.
 System should encrypt every piece of data before storing it in the database.
4. Project constraints
Following are key constraints of proposed MedRec system:
 Even though healthcare demands privacy and authentication based HER
records, but there are still many health systems and users who do not want to
adapt with the technology. Hence, MedRec should be implemented first in
those hospitals where user are open for change or else the required goal shall
not be achieved.
 The development and implementation of MedRec system is limited to
government authorized hospitals and other arbitrary medical centres are not
allowed to be a part of it. This is because blockchain system is recognized
through an unique patient identifier or a big prime number.
 The project requires resources which are committed throughout the
implementation project. Any resource leaving in-between not only hampers
the project’s speed but also rapid advancements in medical history can make
it difficult to find a replacement of the resource.
 The implementation of MedRec should get completed either a day before Go-
Live or extra resources should be assigned in order to finish the work on time.
However, it can increase budget.
 The project should be completed within the assigned deadline and if deadline
is to extended then it should be avoided by adding new resources (Dennis,
Wixom and Tegarden, 2015).
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MedRec- Blockchain Technology based system
5. Project Work Breakdown Structure
Work Breakdown Structure is the process of decomposing the project tasks into smaller
manageable pieces of work. Each decomposed work is assigned a resource or resources to
perform it.
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MedRec- Blockchain Technology based system
6. Conclusion
MedRec system seems promising and feasible system as it stands on all the three aspects of
feasibility study. However, there are still areas of concerns which have not been raised in the
report. First is that blockchain has been made to be flexible with different databases but
custom integration is still a challenge. Secondly, in order to implement such system, constant
connection with hospitals and providers are required. So, that constant change in the needs
can be studied and necessary modifications to the proposed system can be made. Need for
MedRec has proved that centralized database or data store is dangerous for any organization
which is looking for resolving security and privacy issues of the organization. MedRec
proves to be a perfect de-centralized solution.
7. References
Alman, S., 2018. Blockchain. 4th ed. Chicago: Amer Library Association, pp.12-14.
Dennis, A., Wixom, B. and Tegarden, D., 2015. Systems Analysis and Design. 2nd ed.
New York: Wiley, pp.12-14.
Karame, G. and Androulaki, E., 2016. Bitcoin and blockchain security. 3rd ed. USA:
Pearson, pp.67-68.
Kendall, K. and Kendall, J., 2015. Systems analysis and design. 2nd ed. USA: Wiley,
pp.67-69.
Scott, T., 2017. Blockchain. 1st ed. USA: Lulu COM, pp.12-14.
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MedRec- Blockchain Technology based system
Tegarden, D., Dennis, A. and Wixom, B., 2013. System analysis design UML version
2.0. 2nd ed. Singapur: Wiley, pp.12-15.
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