Religion and ethics. Catholics reflect on their identity in future health care alliances

The development of integrated delivery networks under health care reform will entail a shift away from focusing on how to manage individual institutions to creating new relationships among provider and community organizations that have previously held unshared visions and values. The Catholic Health Association, St. Louis, has recognized the need for network sponsors to "be able to articulate the nonnegotiables for the Catholic ministry, yet be flexible to choose between having any presence and having presence through the power to influence." What exactly is negotiable will be put to the test in the near future, as the following articles point out.