Why hospital linkages are increasing: sharing institutions and organizational environment

This article is directed to hospital managers, investors, and corporate buyers of health care. The group includes financiers and managers, employees, and consumers of hospital services. Concentrating on the current and future environmental pressure in hospitals, the author utilized the categories of Kast and Rosenzweig to organize those pressures--specifically, a sample pressure in each of nine areas: cultural, technological, educational, political, legal, natural resource, demographic, sociological, and economic. Examples of how hospitals as "sharing institutions" will better be able to deal with these nine areas is also presented.