Information issues in health networked organisations: cooperative work and new relationships

In our Knowledge and Information-based Society, the rise of networks is becoming a key aspect of Healthcare. New networked service organisations have developed as an interface between primary care and hospitals. Their innovative aspects (organisational, human and technical) focus on new cooperative practices centred on patients who are more involved in their health. This paper will firstly examine the rise of Healthcare Networks from the French perspective and will compare that with experiences in United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Spain in a background of management of the complexity (global vision both of the networked organisation and of the patients). Secondly the paper will outline specific aspects of Health data: personal, sensitive, confidential and conforming to particular legislation. Then the paper will study their use both for the monitoring of patients' pathways and for the management of organisations with the essential role of Information and Communication Systems (information sharing and quality of data) with their key element: the patient's Electronic Health Record. Finally the paper will demonstrate how supportive evaluation of these community service organisations helps develop their collective identity via a process of continuous improvement