Achieving research impact in medical research through collaboration across organizational boundaries: Insights from a mixed methods study in the Netherlands.

Background: In the Netherlands, university medical centres (UMCs) bear primary responsibility for conducting medical research and delivering highly specialized care. The TopCare program was a policy experiment lasting 4 years in which three non-academic hospitals received funding from the Dutch Ministry of Health to also conduct medical research and deliver highly specialized care in specific domains. This study investigates research collaboration outcomes for all Dutch UMCs and non-academic hospitals in general and, more specifically, for the domains in the non-academic hospitals participating in the TopCare program.

Use and the Users of a Patient Portal: Cross-Sectional Study.

Background: Patient portals offer patients access to their medical information and tools to communicate with health care providers. It has been shown that patient portals have the potential to positively impact health outcomes and efficiency of health care. It is therefore important that health care organizations identify the patients who use or do not use the patient portal and explore the reasons in either case.

Beyond Volume Indicators and Centralization: Toward a Broad Perspective on Policy for Improving Quality of Emergency Care.

Study Objective: Policymakers increasingly regard centralization of emergency care as a useful measure to improve quality. However, the clinical studies that are used to justify centralization, arguing that volume indicators are a good proxy for quality of care ("practice makes perfect"), have significant shortcomings. In light of the introduction of a new centralization policy in the Netherlands, we show that the use of volume indicators in emergency care is problematic and does not do justice to the daily care provided in emergency departments (EDs).

Why healthcare providers merge.

In many OECD countries, healthcare sectors have become increasingly concentrated as a result of mergers. However, detailed empirical insight into why healthcare providers merge is lacking. Also, we know little about the influence of national healthcare policies on mergers.

Getting cold feet?: Why health care mergers are abandoned.

Background: Despite the frequent occurrence and sizeable consequences of merger abandonment in other sectors, there is no thorough understanding of merger abandonment in health care.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to improve the understanding of determinants of health care merger abandonment.

Approach: On the basis of the literature on merger abandonment, we formulated a framework on potential determinants of health care merger abandonment.