ABSTRACT
Healthcare, being a basic necessity and a fundamental human right, is a paramount discipline of research today. During the past decade, blockchain technology has gained an increased interest from academic scholars for its use in the healthcare sector. Applications such as healthcare supply chain, identification of fake drugs, managing and securing electronic health records, managing patient appointments with healthcare providers, regular patient monitoring using various tools, and telemedicine come into picture with respect to healthcare. A thorough survey of related research works in this domain is required in order to gain insights into the future ideas and recommendations for the use of blockchain technology in the healthcare sector. In this book chapter, we aim to provide an exhaustive systematic review of research publications related to smart healthcare applications by the use of blockchain technology. With a thorough review and study of the research works selected by systematic approach, this book chapter aims 212to answer a set of research questions focusing on blockchain platforms, consensus methods, smart contracts, system evaluation methods, and their drawbacks. A tabular comparison of all the research articles on the basis of the research questions is provided. In the end, we give our observations of the challenges and limitations of the research works under this study, and their possible solutions. Thus, we reach up to a future scope of blockchain technology in healthcare applications.
