Health data network: organizational and political challenges

The paper reports on the implementation of a Danish health data network developed at a county level (Fuen) linking the various actors in the health sector. It provides an overview of organizational and technology use issues encountered in such an implementation. The network so far involves EDI (letter of discharge, test results, bills, etc.) and access to waiting lists at the hospital. The participants include about 75% of the GPs, the pharmacies, the health insurance and the hospitals. Future plans for the network includes expansion of the network to additional areas in the health sector, as well as new functional items, such as medical records. On a national scale, aims are to link all counties in a national health data network. Using a framework adopted from Andersen and Danziger (1995), the study show that there are benefits in terms of the capabilities and the interaction among the actors involved. Also, the increased reliance on computerized information has improved the service in the health sector. However, improvements of each of these three variables are in part a compromise (trade off) with privacy issues not only in terms of patients´ privacy and protection of legal rights, but also the doctors´ concept of “professional privacy” pose challenges to the potential expansion of the health data network