In short, 4S can be described as follows:
4S is an ecosystem for providers and users of open source modules for telemedicine / telehealth systems based on national (Danish) and international standards.
The following pages unfold the reasoning behind this statement and explain the fundamental idea of 4S:
Furthermore, 4S do not exist to promote its own “solution”, but is working to promote collaboration on and around health related software and data, across public and private sectors. Through the use of open technologies, reference architectures, and international standards, the goal of the 4S ecosystem is to make it easier, faster and cheaper to practically achieve better healthcare IT solutions by facilitating the cooperation on tele-health IT solutions and breaking down silos.
The name “4S” is an acronym for the Danish name, Stiftelsen for Software-baserede Sundhedsservices, which translates to The Foundation for Software-based Health Services.
The formal entity “4S” is a foundation comprising members from the National eHealth Authority (who is responsible for setting the national standards for eHealth in Denmark), three out of the five Danish regions (who operate all public hospitals and secondary care), municipalities (primary health care and social care), software providers, MedCom, Aarhus University, and the Alexandra Institute. The two latter are currently the operators of 4S.
See also the following pages:
The following pages explain the fundamental idea of 4S:
You can read more about the vision behind 4S in the following research journal papers describing the birth of 4S:
