Abstract
Objectives: Current research aims to address the challenges of exchanging healthcare information, since when this information has to be shared, this happens by specifically designed medical applications or even by the patients themselves. Among the problems that the Health Information Exchange (HIE) initiative is facing are that (i) third party health data cannot be accessed without internet, (ii) there exist crucial delays in accessing citizens’ data, (iii) the direct HIE can only happen among Healthcare Institutions. Methods: Towards the solution of these issues, a Device-to-Device (D2D) protocol has been specified, running on top of the Bluetooth protocol for efficient data exchange. This research is focused on this D2D protocol, by comparing the different Bluetooth profiles that can be used for transmitting this data, based on specific metrics considering the probabilities of transferring erroneous data. Findings: An evaluation of three Bluetooth profiles takes place, concluding that two of the three profiles must be used to respect the D2D protocol nature and be fully supported by the main market vendors’ operating systems. Novelty: Based on this evaluation, the specified D2D protocol has been built on top of state-of-the-art short-range distance communication technologies, fully supporting the healthcare ecosystem towards the HIE paradigm.