Driven by the diverse needs for exchanging patient, other healthcare and health system data with the aim to improve the overall quality and efficiency of healthcare provision, regions and countries globally have been developing electronic platforms to gather and exchange such data. Based on an initial sample of more than 50 potential cases, eight such platforms were analysed in detail. This covered issues like core public health policy goals pursued, and major patient and other healthcare data access and exchange characteristics driving the platforms surveyed. This allows for arriving at an initial, pragmatic typology of such platforms. It provides for a better understanding of the main objective(s) and the major thrust of the underlying national (or district-related) health policy to develop and implement such infrastructures.