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.
