A generic vobe framework to manage home healthcare collaboration

In this paper we propose a conceptual framework to manage Home HealthCare (HHC) provision and stakeholder collaborations using the concepts of Virtual Breeding Environment (VBE) and Virtual Organisation (VO). Providing healthcare at home is gaining popularity as more and more patients prefer to receive care in the comfort of their homes. Providing care at home is complex and involves many stakeholders; collaboration and resource sharing between these stakeholders is essential for a successful home healthcare provision. In this paper we outline a framework to classify different parties involved in Home Healthcare (HHC) collaboration based on their roles. The framework consists of two main components which we call HHC-VBE and HHC-VO. The proposed framework is applied to a simple home healthcare case study and it is later evaluated. The result shows that the framework is simple and flexible and can be applied to other scenarios. This research contributes towards addressing the ongoing challenge of HHC collaboration management.