Building National Healthcare Infrastructure: The Case of the Danish e-Health Portal

This case chapter is about the evolution of the Danish national e-health portal, sundhed.dk, which provides patient-oriented digital services. We present how the organization behind sundhed.dk succeeded in establishing a national healthcare infrastructure by (1) collating and assembling existing data resources, (2) repurposing and enhancing current data sources in the health sector, and (3) engaging a multiplicity of stakeholders. We argue that these activities represent three ways of capitalizing on the installed base that has led to the evolution and current situation of the e-health portal. At the same time, we show how these three modes come with a number of challenges for sundhed.dk in its pursuit of further innovation.