(Data-) Cooperatives in health and social care: a scoping review

Aim: To gather information about the structure of cooperatives in health and social care, in general, and data cooperatives, in particular, to derive implications for their future implementation. Subject and methods: Health and social care systems are currently under pressure due to rising costs and demands. Many hopes lie on digitization, digitalization, and the potentials of health data. A scoping review was conducted searching nine databases and grey literature. Data on information about aim, type, and structure of the cooperatives, member structure, founding process, and their way of financing were extracted. Results: All searches resulted in 9080 articles and websites. Overall, we included 26 cooperatives and categorized them as follows: (1) worker cooperatives with focus on workers’ rights and service provision to clients, (2) consumer cooperatives, (3) consumer and worker cooperatives, (4) cooperatives of institutions, (5) general practitioner (GP) cooperatives, (6) cooperatives as health insurance models, and (7) health data cooperatives. Conclusions: Information provided on (data) cooperatives differed greatly in detail. Their common goal is to tackle and overcome existing barriers in their field such as working conditions or unequal health care. We identified five challenges: (1) salary structures; (2) cooperating with other providers and surrounding institutions; (3) building an identity and recruiting potential members; (4) motivation of members to participate actively; and (5) distinction from other types. Benefits are: (1) improvement of conditions; (2) being stronger together; (3) support of research; and (4) data governance. When successful and competent, (data) cooperatives can be powerful tools on public, scientific, and political levels.