Service Design for Value Networks: Enabling Value Cocreation Interactions in Healthcare

In the increasingly complex service environment, value is cocreated through webs of interactions between provider networks and customer networks. This is evident in healthcare services, where well-being can be achieved only through the joint efforts of professional healthcare networks and patient networks. Addressing the challenge of creating network-level services, the service design for value networks (SD4VN) method designs services as enablers of many-to-many value cocreating interactions among network actors. By integrating previous research on value networks and service design, SD4VN develops a process and a set of models beyond supporting dyadic (customer–service provider) interactions to understanding the interrelated activities, interactions, and goals of network actors and designing services to support the different actors in reaching their goals with balanced centricity. Following a design science research approach, this paper presents the SD4VN method and reports on a case application of the method used to design the Portuguese national electronic health record service Plataforma de Dados da Saúde (PDS). The case application involved focus groups, in-depth interviews, and participatory design sessions with over 170 participants at different service design stages, showing the importance of designing a balanced, integrated service. The case application also shows how SD4VN can support a wider adoption of the service and improve the health service system.