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Coordination in healthcare networks becomes increasingly important. A process-oriented coordination approach is introduced which enhances integrated care scenarios by an IT-driven coordination of interorganizational treatment processes – the concept of process-based e-service logistics. The allocation of e-services is based on a model describing services and coordination tasks between roles in a healthcare network. The underlying system’s architecture is presented which implements process-based e-service logistics by designing and executing individual treatment processes, identifying coordination tasks between network actors and dynamically allocating e-services. A solution for automated individualization of processes and e-services based on Case Based Reasoning (CBR) technology is discussed. 1 HEALTHCARE NETWORKING The healthcare industry is an important economic sector in Germany causing annual expenses of about 230 billion euros and employing more than 4.2 million people. Starting point of the research project was an empirical study addressing German and Swiss ambulant healthcare networks (healthcare network managers as well as physicians) to evaluate the maturity of healthcare network organizations regarding strategy, processes and information technology (Schicker et al., 2006a). The empirical study reveals that 81 percent of the respondents expect that networking in the healthcare industry will increase in the next three to five years. Moreover, 88 percent of the survey participants agree that the demand for coordination and IT-support in healthcare networks is going to rise in the future (Schicker et al., 2006a: 21). An important driving force of networking is the concept of integrated care which is often associated with the following instruments: Intersectorial cooperation (Ramming, 2004: 147; Mühlbacher, 2002: 65) Financial responsibility (e.g. capitation) Coordination and control of medical treatment processes (Mühlbacher, 2002: 66) Information integration (Ramming, 2004: 147). Whereas many research projects deal with the integration of health data this project concentrates on the coordination and control of interorganizational processes within healthcare networks by providing patients and suppliers with a customized set of electronic services. To analyze the requirements the research team cooperates with the healthcare network “Qualitätsund Effizienzgemeinschaft NürnbergNord” which is organized as a gatekeeper system. The integrated care contract spans ambulant, clinical and home care service providers and is financed by a full capitation model (Wambach et al., 2005: 13). 2 PROCESS-ORIENTED COORDINATION Process-oriented coordination is seen as one important way to enable integrated care scenarios, to enhance patient satisfaction and to reduce costs of treatment processes (Güntert, 2004: 100ff). Schmalenbach argues for process-oriented control especially to cope with the problem of managing multiple interfaces (Schmalenbach, 1908/09; 211f.). Based on that belief the research project focuses on the treatment process from a cooperative view regarding the patient’s way throughout the whole healthcare network. 2.1 Process Characteristics and Requirements Process-oriented coordination faces important challenges to cope with. Therefore the characteris161 Schicker G., Kaiser C. and Bodendorf F. (2008). PROCESS AND E-SERVICE CUSTOMIZATION For Coordination in Healthcare Networks. In Proceedings of the First International Conference on Health Informatics, pages 161-166 Copyright c © SciTePress tics of healthcare network processes and their requirements will be discussed next. To transfer the general tasks and principles of coordination to the healthcare domain, it has been analyzed which processes (e.g. management, medical treatment and support processes) and coordination tasks exist within healthcare networks (Schicker, 2006b: 39). 2.1.1 Process Characteristics Table 1 depicts characteristics of interorganizational treatment processes that need to be considered when requirements for the IT-support in healthcare networks are defined (Schicker et al., 2006b: 39). Especially the uniqueness of one patient ́s treatment process (Müller-Mundt, 2001: 95) and the high degree of volatility are key characteristics which have to be considered when supporting healthcare network processes by information technology. During their execution processes have to be modified, detailed and customized to the patient ́s needs depending on his individual treatment context (cybernetic model of medical treatment) (Prokosch, 2007). Table 1: Characteristics of treatment processes. • unique • requiring intensive coordination and information • cross-sectorial • important and risky • stepwise changing and volatile, requiring indepth knowledge • involving numerous participants • long-lasting and complex

PROCESS AND E-SERVICE CUSTOMIZATION - For Coordination in Healthcare Networks