Health Base

What Health Base does

Health Base (Stichting Health Base) is a Dutch non-profit foundation founded in 1990 and headquartered in Houten, Netherlands. It develops and maintains the Pharmabase — a curated medical and pharmacotherapeutic knowledge database covering >14,000 medications and meeting the NEN 7507 drug-database norm — and delivers it as a set of modules integrated directly into the primary healthcare information systems used by pharmacies, GPs and hospitals in the Netherlands and Belgium. Core products include Medicatiebewaking (medication surveillance with Commentaren), Geneesmiddelinformatie voor de Patiënt (GIP) personalized patient drug information in six languages, Uitgifte Informatie Online (UI-online) dispensing instructions, Zorgprotocollen (care protocols), Formularium (electronic prescribing decision support), and Consult Voorbereidende Vragenlijsten (pre-consult questionnaires). Add-on modules include Health Base IQ (an AI clinical assistant launched in beta in Medicom from April 2025), Digitale Medicatiebegeleiding, 1e/2e Uitgiftebegeleiding, Etiketteksten (label texts including 'Werking op Etiket'), and Signaal op Maat (a next-generation surveillance system in development targeting a 90% signal reduction).

The business is 100% funded by healthcare professionals through licensing fees. Distribution is executed via embedded integrations with HIS/AIS/EPD vendors — PharmaPartners (Pharmacom pharmacy system and Medicom GP system since 1990), Farmad (Belgium), CGM, Sanday, SmartMed, ChipSoft, Epic, and VAL — and via patient portals (MijnGezondheid.net, MedGemak) used by >8M patients. Reported installed base includes >98% of Dutch pharmacies, nearly 50% of Dutch GPs, >50 Dutch hospitals, >30% of Belgian pharmacies, and tens of millions of annual requests for patient information and dispensing instructions. The organization operates a wholly-owned software subsidiary (Digitalis), is ISO 9001:2015 certified, and collaborates with CBG, NHG, Nivel, Pharos, IVM, University of Groningen, NeLL, ZonMw and others on standards, research, and product development. Geographic reach now extends to Germany and France (since 2022 via CareAnimations) in addition to the Netherlands and Belgium core.

Name

Health Base

Legal name

Stichting Health Base

Website

https://healthbase.nl

Company type

Private

Founded year

1990

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Health Base is a Dutch non-profit foundation that develops the Pharmabase pharmacotherapeutic knowledge database and delivers medication surveillance, patient drug information, care protocols, formularies, and an AI clinical assistant, all integrated into healthcare information systems serving pharmacies, GPs, and hospitals across the Netherlands and Belgium.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Clinical Decision Support Software

NAICS

Offices of Physicians (62111)

SIC

Services-Health Services (8000)

akta.pro primary industry

Pharmacy Interoperability, Standards & Integration (FHIR/NCPDP) (HLACAKAO)

akta.pro secondary industry

Virtual Pharmacy & Medication Management Integration Platforms (HLALABAL)

Keywords

• Clinical decision support
• Medication surveillance
• Pharmacotherapy information
• Patient medication information
• Care protocols

Headquarters

HQ city

Houten

HQ country

Netherlands

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. License fees from healthcare information systems: Health Base content is distributed through licensing agreements with healthcare IT providers. The organization is 100% funded by healthcare professionals through license fees.
2. Healthcare IT system integration: Content integrated into pharmacy information systems (Pharmacom, Farmad), hospital information systems, and patient portals through partnerships with ICT organizations.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels6 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Health Base develops and licenses the Pharmabase database — a structured drug and pharmacotherapeutic knowledge base — together with integrated modules for medication surveillance, patient drug information, dispensing guidance, care protocols, drug formularies, and an AI clinical assistant (Health Base IQ). Content is delivered via licensing and embedded integrations into pharmacy, GP, and hospital information systems (Pharmacom, Medicom, Farmad, CGM, Sanday, ChipSoft, Epic) as well as patient portals (MijnGezondheid.net, MedGemak) used by healthcare professionals and patients in the Netherlands and Belgium.

Product overview

Health Base is a not-for-profit knowledge institute providing medical and pharmacotherapeutic content for healthcare professionals and patients across the Netherlands and Belgium. The offering is a platform-plus-modules architecture anchored by the Pharmabase — a structured drug knowledge database — which feeds multiple integrated modules delivered through healthcare information systems. Core products include: Medicatiebewaking (medication surveillance with Commentaren) for automated monitoring of drug interactions, contraindications, and dosage; Geneesmiddelinformatie voor de Patiënt (GIP) for personalized patient drug information; Uitgifte Informatie Online (UI-online) for online dispensing guidance; Zorgprotocollen (care protocols) and Formularium for GP decision support; and Consult Voorbereidende Vragenlijsten (CVV) for pre-consult patient questionnaires. Add-on modules include: Health Base IQ (AI clinical assistant), Digitale Medicatiebegeleiding (digital medication guidance), 1e/2e Uitgiftebegeleiding (dispensing guidance), and Etiketteksten (label texts). The Pharmabase and all products are fully integrated into pharmacy information systems (Pharmacom, Farmad, CGM, Sanday, SmartMed, Chipsoft, VAL) and GP information systems (Medicom), as well as hospital EPDs (ChipSoft, Epic) and patient portals (MijnGezondheid.net, MedGemak). Health Base is 100% funded by healthcare professionals through licensing fees.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• UI-online: Uitgifte Informatie Online - professional, personalized patient information for tailored guidance
• GIP - Geneesmiddelinformatie voor de Patiënt
• Health Base IQ
• Commentaren Medicatiebewaking
• Pharmacom
• Medicom

Products and services

• Medicatiebewaking (Medication Surveillance) Automated medication surveillance system that monitors drug interactions, contraindications, dosage, allergies, and duplicate therapy. Provides alerts with background texts and handling advice at the point of prescribing or dispensing, integrated into pharmacy and GP information systems.
• Geneesmiddelinformatie voor de Patiënt (GIP) Personalized patient drug information providing understandable information on medications, available for nearly 14,000 medications in the Netherlands and Belgium. Customized by patient age, gender, comorbidities, and other medications. Supports 6 languages (Dutch, English, Turkish, Arabic, Polish, Ukrainian).
• Uitgifte Informatie Online (UI-online) Online dispensing information system providing personalized patient counseling for tailored guidance. Contains over 500 instructions accessed 18+ million times per year. Fully integrated in pharmacy information systems (CGM, Sanday, SmartMed, Chipsoft, VAL) and includes multilingual support, video explanations, and pictograms.
• Zorgprotocollen (Care Protocols) Systematic care protocols for the treatment and guidance of patients with specific (often chronic) conditions. Serve as both a structured form and a guide/record combined. Cover indication, treatment choices, monitoring, and evaluation. Integrated in Medicom.
• Formularium (Drug Formulary)

Quantifiable outcome

• 75% of patients successfully complete Digital Medication Guidance
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers7 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration13 records

AI capability4 records

Feature6 records

Partnerships

13 partnerships are on record, tiered strategic, core and minor.

• National eHealth Living Lab (NeLL)strategicStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2023Health Base is a strategic partner of NeLL, working together to develop sustainable care and health models. NeLL's mission is to develop, implement, and scale sustainable care and health models for the right care for the patient at the right place, at the right price.
• PharmaPartnerscoreTechnology or Integration · 1 January 1990PharmaPartners is the ICT organization integrating Health Base medical and pharmacotherapeutic content into Pharmacom (pharmacy information system) and Medicom (GP information system). Health Base has been delivering all healthcare information to these systems since 1990, with customers and patients having continuous access to optimal quality information.
• FarmadcoreTechnology or Integration · 1 January 1990Farmad is the Belgian ICT organization integrating Health Base medication surveillance and patient information into pharmacy information systems for Belgian pharmacies.
• NivelminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerResearch partnership with Nivel (Netherlands institute for health services research) for conducting research on how healthcare information works in practice and how it can be further improved.
• PharosminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerResearch partnership with Pharos (knowledge center for health disparities) for improving healthcare information accessibility for low-literacy patients and health information comprehension research.
• IVMminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration with IVM (Institute for Responsible Medicine Use) on research into understandable label texts and medication information optimization.
• Rijksuniversiteit GroningenminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAcademic partnership with University of Groningen for research collaboration on medication safety and healthcare information.
• NHGminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration with Dutch College of General Practitioners (NHG) for alignment with NHG Standards and guidelines in Health Base protocols and formulary.
• CBG (College ter Beoordeling van Geneesmiddelen)strategicStrategic or Co-development PartnerHealth Base collaborated with CBG on developing the national standardized pictogram set for understandable medication information. Health Base was the first party to integrate the pictograms in digital healthcare information. CBG coordinates the public-private collaboration 'Samen naar Duidelijke Medicijnpictogrammen'.
• IKNL and RadboudumcminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration on making all medication information around oncolytics practically applicable for cancer treatment.
• NHGminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerHealth Base translates NHG Standard Obesitas 2025 into practical protocols for general practitioners, with medication treatment as a limited, optional component.
• Samen naar Duidelijke Medicijnpictogrammen consortiumstrategicStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration consortium including BOGIN, Lareb, CBD, CBG, KNMP, VWS Ministry, Neprofarm, Nivel, Patiëntenfederatie Nederland, Pharmi, Pharos, Stichting KIJKsluiter, Health Base, The MedGuide Company, VES, VIG, and VJA for developing national pictogram standard.
• PharmaPartnerscoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorPharmaPartners enables digital medication guidance through their platforms, allowing pharmacies to request the additional Digital Medication Guidance module.

Scale indicators18 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• Oracle Health (Cerner): Oracle Health (formerly Cerner) provides EHR platforms with embedded medication surveillance and clinical decision support capabilities across global health systems. It is a broad incumbent that competes with Health Base indirectly by potentially internalizing or replacing third-party clinical content within its installed base.
• Elsevier Clinical Solutions (ClinicalKey / GOLD): Elsevier offers clinical drug content and pharmacy decision support solutions used by hospitals and healthcare systems globally. It competes with Health Base's clinical decision support role in the same buyer category (pharmacy and provider systems) but as part of a much broader content portfolio rather than a primary care pharmacy specialist.
• IBM Micromedex: IBM Micromedex provides evidence-based drug reference, clinical decision support, and patient education used by hospitals and pharmacies worldwide. It is a broad incumbent in the same drug information category as Health Base, with deeper international reach but typically less workflow-integration depth in primary care pharmacy systems.

Emerging players

• DrugBank: DrugBank provides a comprehensive drug knowledge database with APIs for clinical decision support and integrates into pharmacy, EHR, and research applications. It is an emerging player with a technically sophisticated API-first model, partial overlap with Health Base's Pharmabase content layer, and growing international adoption.
• CareAnimations: CareAnimations is a healthcare animation platform providing patient education content that Health Base explicitly partners with for German and French expansion. It is a smaller emerging player in patient drug information with overlapping use cases (medication education, pictograms, multilingual content).
• Pharmi: Pharmi is a Dutch patient medication information platform that sits alongside Health Base in the Samen naar Duidelijke Medicijnpictogrammen consortium. It addresses overlapping patient drug information use cases in the Netherlands with a more consumer-facing distribution model.
• Stichting KIJKsluiter: Stichting KIJKsluiter provides video-based patient medication instructions used by Dutch pharmacies and is a co-developer of Health Base's Kijksluiter QR-code module. It is a smaller, thematically related patient information provider with partial functional overlap.

Direct peers

• Wolters Kluwer Clinical Drug Information (Lexicomp / Medi-Span): Wolters Kluwer's Lexicomp and Medi-Span offerings provide clinical drug information, medication surveillance, and patient education content integrated into pharmacy and hospital systems globally. They overlap directly with Health Base's core content and surveillance products and operate at much larger scale internationally.
• First Databank (FDB): First Databank provides drug knowledge databases and medication decision support integrated into pharmacy and EHR systems worldwide. It is the closest direct peer to Health Base, addressing the same clinical decision support and medication surveillance use cases for pharmacies and hospitals across multiple geographies.

Regional players

• ABDA (Werbe- und Vertriebsgesellschaft Deutscher Apotheker): ABDA coordinates the German pharmacy sector's professional interests and operates drug information infrastructure used by German pharmacies. It is a regional incumbent in the same pharmacy drug knowledge category as Health Base but serves the German market, not the Dutch/Belgian markets where Health Base dominates.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat7 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/health_base

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles7 records

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Health Base