Digital Assets in Healthcare: Challenges of Ownership, Consent, and Secure Exchange
Digital Assets in Healthcare: Data Ownership, Consent, and Secure Exchange
Summary
As patient data becomes a high-value 'digital asset,' the core challenge is how to protect ownership rights, capture valid consent, and securely exchange records across providers and researchers. The scope extends beyond traditional EHRs to include wearable data and access rights themselves.
Details
Digital assets in healthcare are no longer limited to electronic health records (EHRs). They now encompass personal health records from wearables, research datasets, and even the consent artifacts and access rights themselves. The technical challenge involves recognizing that raw Protected Health Information (PHI) should not be stored directly on a public blockchain; instead, cryptographic proofs or hashes are used to manage access rights. Data ownership is structurally complex: legally, patients hold rights over their information, but providers often control the record artifact itself. Therefore, practical implementation focuses less on 'who owns' and more on 'who controls' (e.g., who can access it, limit sharing by purpose/time, or revoke permission). Consent must evolve beyond static paperwork into dynamic mechanisms. The concept of 'Dynamic Consent' allows patients to adjust permissions over time—for specific purposes, durations, or roles. Effective governance requires that these granular consent restrictions are maintained and honored even when data moves to downstream analytics platforms.
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