Hospitals have, of their own accord, been far more likely to form partnerships to share expertise or learn about particularly successful programs. Rick Wade, senior vice-president of the American Hospital Association, says that this is an increasing trend, especially common between children's hospitals because they share very similar structure and a common mission.
An example of one such partnership is the one about to start in December of this year between Cincinnati Children's Hospital and Arkansas Children's Hospital. In the past, Arkansas children had to travel to Cincinnati to get some specialty procedures, but now physicians will be traveling once a month to perform those procedures closer to home.
In exchange, Arkansas medical personnel are going to be traveling to Cincinnati to teach them about their patient-transport program; Arkansas Children's Hospital is an authority in the area of patient-transport.
Of course, hospitals' willingness to collaborate comes and goes, depending on the political and competitive climate of the day. But given the particularly intense financial pressures on the industry, the need to share clinical data and the industry-wide push to lower infection rates, among other issues, it's hardly surprising that they're more cooperative than usual.
To learn more about these partnerships:
- Read this Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report piece