Networking: forming collectives to ensure survival and flexibility

Networking--the presence in one multihospital system of two or more types of interhospital relationships--offers freestanding not-for-profit hospitals the ability to form collectives that ensure organizational survival and managerial flexibility while safeguarding institutional autonomy. A prototype of an emerging health care network is Health West Foundation, a not-for-profit holding company that provides health care services through a network of affiliated components.