A Configuration Approach to Multi-Sided Platforms in Healthcare: An ALS Platform Case

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) is a severe neurological disease; as a result, patient care requires a complex network of specialists and equipment providers. Despite best intentions , the organizational and regulatory structures in Germany have not been geared towards efficient and effective coordination of care for patients and their caregivers. This situation calls for innovation of care procurement and provision. APST is a multi-sided, patient-centric platform, addressing the coordination of ALS care by combining case management and platform-based service/equipment exchanges. Over time two feedback cycles, quality of platform service and of care, as well as two research cycles, evidence-based care and medical research, have been established and the platform has become an infrastructure for ALS care, exemplifying social entrepreneurship for digital innovation in patient care. We use an interorganizational configuration lens (Lyytinen and Dams-gaard 2011) to reconstruct how the organizing logic shaped four components of APST (case management, transaction, information, and research platform).