Service delivery for e-Health applications.

E-Health applications have to take the business perspective into account. This is achieved by adding a fourth layer reflecting organizational and business processes to an existing three layer model for IT-system functionality and management. This approach is used for designing a state-wide e-Health service delivery allowing for distributed responsibilities: clinical organizations act on the fourth layer and have established mutual cooperation in this state-wide approach based on collectively outsourced IT-system services. As a result, no clinical organization can take a dominant role based on operating the IT-system infrastructure. The implementation relies on a central infrastructure with extended means to guarantee service delivery: (i) established redundancy within the system architecture, (ii) actively controlled network and application availability, (iii) automated routine performance tests fulfilling regulatory requirements and (iv) hub-to-spoke and end-to-end authentication. As a result, about half of the hospitals and some practices of the state have signed-up to the services and guarantee long-term sustainability by sharing the infrastructural costs. Collaboration takes place for more than 1000 patients per month based on second opinion, online consultation and proxy services for weekend and night shifts.