Assessing Collaboration in Local Healthcare Networks

ABSTRACT

Healthcare increasingly depends on cross-sector collaboration and is often facilitated by networks of local organizations. This study adds to a growing body of literature on local healthcare networks by assessing the level of collaboration in five healthcare networks in Maryland. Findings show that organizations see value in participating in these networks and report a strong history of collaborative action. There is good informal communication between network partners but little in the way of governance in any of the networks described here. The absence of any network management capacity and the lack of resources dedicated to the network negatively impact these networks and highlight important differences between emergent and mandated networks.

KEYWORDS:

• Collaboration
• networks
• healthcare

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene [OPASS-16-17137G].