Motivation

The health care branch is entering a new phase, defined by:

• breakthroughs in IT and a new generation of IT networks,
• increasing consumer activism that is redefining the role of the consumer and the healthcare providers,
• care providers are ‘forced’ to present their quality
• care is not only provided in one organization. Collaboration and continuum of care
• Improvements can be achieved by standardization  
• the emergence of focused players at every point of the health care value chain, creating alternatives to vertical integration and the need of overall view,
• demographic developments which lead to an increasing demand of care and decreasing of resources. Strategic use of IT is one of the solutions for the problems, use of volunteers in health care and smart ways to let them communicate with each other will be more important.