A Blockchain-Based Strategy for Certifying Timestamps in a Distributed Healthcare Emergency Response Systems

Daniele Marletta, Alessandro Midolo and Emiliano Tramontana ()
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Daniele Marletta: Dipartimento di Matematica e Informatica, University of Catania, 95125 Catania, Italy
Alessandro Midolo: Dipartimento di Matematica e Informatica, University of Catania, 95125 Catania, Italy
Emiliano Tramontana: Dipartimento di Matematica e Informatica, University of Catania, 95125 Catania, Italy

Future Internet, 2025, vol. 17, issue 5, 1-23

Abstract: A high level of data integrity is a strong requirement in systems where the life of people depends on accurate and timely responses. In healthcare emergency response systems, a centralized authority that handles data related to occurring events is prone to challenges, such as, e.g., disputes over event timestamps and data authenticity. To address both the potential lack of trust among collaborating parties and the inability of an authority to clearly certify events by itself, this paper proposes a blockchain-based framework designed to provide proof of integrity and authenticity of data in healthcare emergency response systems. The proposed solution integrates blockchain technology to certify the accuracy of events throughout their incident lifecycle. Critical events are timestamped and hashed using SHA-256; then, such hashes are stored immutably on an EVM-compatible blockchain via smart contracts. The system combines blockchain technology with cloud storage to ensure scalability, security, and transparency. Blockchain technology provides the advantage of eliminating a trusted server, providing timestamping and reducing costs by forgoing such a service. The experimental results, using publicly available incident data, demonstrated the feasibility and effectiveness of this approach. The system provides a cost-effective, scalable solution for managing incident data while keeping a proof of their integrity. The proposed blockchain-based framework offers a reliable, transparent mechanism for certifying incident-related data. This fosters trust among healthcare emergency response system actors.

Keywords: event certification; immutability; data integrity; smart contracts; proof of existence; timestamping (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O3 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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