PharmaSys: Toward Preventing Prescription Misuse Using a HIPAA-Compliant Blockchain Protocol

Prescription drug misuse has become a major health crisis across the United States with prescription drug abuse skyrocketing during the twenty-first century resulting in classification as an epidemic. The rise in prescription misuse has resulted in negative consequences including heightened instances of overdose deaths, increased crime rate, and escalated healthcare expenditures. Although illegal sales contribute to the issue, a notable portion of prescription drugs stems from licensed medical professionals who engage in over-prescribing medications. To help combat this issue we propose PharmaSys, a novel multi-party blockchain system with a quorum-based consensus protocol that aims to prevent prescription misuse. PharmaSys achieves this by introducing and establishing a checks and balances system for prescription transactions, all while maintaining compliance with HIPAA regulations. PharmaSys consists of three distinct node types: prescribers, pharmacists, and patients; each of which executes unique functions within the system. We have implemented PharmaSys to illustrate our system’s scalability and security.