My Personalized Data Exchange (MyPDx): Individual health data ownership and control on the blockchain.
Blockchain’s design and distributed autonomous operation establish it as a disruptive technology with significant social, political, and economic implications. One of its key applications has been to decentralize management of privacy. Blockchain platforms such as Hyperledger Indy, the platform used to develop MyPDx, have been specifically designed to give users control over their health data to achieve decentralized privacy management. MyPDx offers a novel approach to addressing the challenge of protecting the privacy and security of individuals’ health information while still enabling data sharing for research and business purposes. The design of the solution gives users custody and control over their personal health data credentials in a manner that fundamentally respects users’ privacy while still allowing for and incentivizing sharing of verifiable credentials containing personal health data to advance knowledge in an ecosystem of mutually beneficial partnerships.