Information Infrastructures within European Health Care

Book excerpt: This book is open access under a CC BY-NC 2.5 license. The book aims to be a resource for those interested in planning and implementing large-scale information infrastructures for novel electronic services in health care. The focus of this book is on the pivotal role of the installed base (i.e. the already existing elements of an infrastructure) for ensuing infrastructural development. The book presents rich empirical cases on the design, development and implementation of core infrastructural components (e-prescription and public patient-oriented web platforms) in different national settings across Europe. Therefore, this is a book in which theoretical insights and practical experiences are tightly connected. Contributions have been sourced from a network of academics that have been working on the topic for years, and who have previously collaborated and shared a common understanding of the challenges entailed in expanding information infrastructures within healthcare. The book aims to become a reference for those seeking theoretical and empirical insights for conceptualizing and steering the evolution of information infrastructures in healthcare. The two types of systems (e-prescription and public patient-oriented web platforms) have been selected because they are widespread across Europe, because they invite comparisons, and because they are exemplary of two different types of aims. E-prescription initiatives are usually seen as opportunities to improve healthcare delivery by systematic and not dramatic change. Public patient-oriented web platforms are seen as opportunities to pursue wider and more radical innovation. This book targets researchers, practitioners and students who would benefit from a book providing a comprehensive view to contemporary approaches for the design and deployment of large-scale, inter-organizational systems within healthcare.