Block Chain & Crypto-Currencies (CY-702 (B)) - Important Questions

Explain the use-cases of blockchain in healthcare. Illustrate with examples how blockchain can improve secure data sharing, patient-centric interoperability, consent management, and pharmaceutical supply chain integrity.

Describe the architecture of a blockchain-based electronic health record (EHR) system. Discuss trade-offs between on-chain and off-chain storage, indexing strategies, and access control mechanisms for clinicians and patients.

Discuss how smart contracts can be used to automate patient consent management, medical billing and insurance claim settlements in healthcare. Provide a sample workflow and highlight potential security and auditability considerations.

Explain the privacy and regulatory challenges of deploying blockchain in healthcare. How can techniques such as permissioned ledgers, zero-knowledge proofs, off-chain storage, and data anonymization help systems comply with GDPR and HIPAA requirements?

Explain how blockchain can be used to secure the pharmaceutical supply chain and prevent counterfeit drugs. Describe a data provenance model that supports traceability, authentication, and recall management.

Analyze scalability, latency, and throughput challenges when integrating blockchain with Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) devices. Propose architectural solutions (e.g. layer-2, gateways, batching) to mitigate these issues while preserving security and auditability.

Compare public, private and permissioned blockchains in the context of healthcare applications. For each model give two suitable examples of use-cases and justify why that model is appropriate.

Design a patient identity and access management scheme using blockchain. Explain how decentralized identifiers (DIDs) and verifiable credentials can be used for authentication, selective disclosure of health attributes, and secure data sharing between providers.