Abstract
Parallel to the formal (health) care organizations in Europe, private or public, a number of community driven care projects have emerged. They may supplement the formal organizations by reducing costs or provide care to groups that for some reason do not have access to the formal sector. Drawing on Ostromian theory of commons, and on the previous theory and research on open software development (which share some of the characteristics of “open care”) we use cases of historical cases of community driven care to examine the prospects for such project to help remedy the cost crisis in the care sector. We explore under which institutional settings “open care” is likely to emerge and when open care projects have potential to scale. It is found that open care is more likely to emerge and prosper when they build on existing organizational structures; where the participants do not need to create new hierarchies or governance structures and where they share common values. The paper may serve policy makers aiming to design institutions or regulation, that facilitate, or at least not impede, the emergence of community based care.