Outcomes of Interorganizational Networks in Canada for Chronic Disease Prevention: Insights From a Concept Mapping Study, 2015.

Introduction: We conducted a mixed methods study from June 2014 to March 2015 to assess the perspectives of stakeholders in networks that adopt a population approach for chronic disease prevention (CDP). The purpose of the study was to identify important and feasible outcome measures for monitoring network performance.

Methods: Participants from CDP networks in Canada completed an online concept mapping exercise, which was followed by interviews with network stakeholders to further understand the findings.

What healthcare leaders can learn from research on dark networks.

For 12 years, a research program has been conducted on "dark networks," which are both illegal and covert. One of the major findings is that the structure of the network is conditioned by an existential dilemma-the need to act or exist. The more you do of one, the less you can do of the other.

Health services delivery networks: what do we know and where should we be headed?

Networks of collaborating organizations have become critical mechanisms for the effective delivery of healthcare and related human services. Despite their importance, there is much about health networks that is not understood. The article by Huerta, Casebeer and VanderPlaat is an effort to discuss the importance of health services delivery networks and to point out ways in which such networks might best be studied.

Collaboration and integration of community-based health and human services in a nonprofit managed care system.

This article reports the results of research on a single, urban system of health and human services delivery for clients with serious mental illness. The primary focus was to examine how collaboration and services integration among the more than 40 mostly nonprofit provider agencies were affected by the introduction of managed care. A critical factor in explaining the results was the role of the behavioral health authority in implementing and managing the system.

Integration of community-based services for the severely mentally ill and the structure of public funding: a comparison of four systems.

Despite strong interest by health care services researchers in studying community-based service delivery to persons with severe mental illness, few understand the relationship between the structure of public funding and differences in how mental health care delivery systems are organized. In particular, the structure of public funding may have a substantial effect on the nature and extent of integration among the various service providers that comprise a community's delivery network. Such an understanding is critical if mental health policymakers are to use their influence on funding to guide the structure of service delivery.