Networks help assure survival. Interview by Donald E.L. Johnson

Health care is increasingly a regional business rather than a national one, so hospitals should join or form local networks of providers, insurers and managed care entities, says Gary A. Mecklenburg, president and CEO of Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Chicago, in an interview with Health Care Strategic Management's Donald E.L. Johnson. Institutions that don't participate in the regionalization of health care could be left out. Mecklenburg, who is also president and CEO of the Northwestern Healthcare Network, expects hospital networks, insurers and managed care providers to form more exclusive or limited relationships. Northwestern Memorial is a 723-bed hospital and academic institution with a medical staff of 1,000 physicians. The Northwestern Healthcare Network is an organization formed in 1990 which brings together Northwestern Memorial, Children's Memorial, Evanston, Glenbrook and Highland Park Hospitals under a holding company.