The Power of Alignment: Pioneering New Collaborations During Transformational Change

Both health care reform and the Triple Aim call for enhanced patient experience, improved health outcomes, and reduced costs. To achieve these goals, we must collaborate across health care and community organizations, across fields of expertise, and across the continuum of care. As collaboration is one of nursing's core competencies, nurses are ideally positioned to lead the drive toward the Triple Aim. This article outlines 3 key areas of collaboration and describes successful interventions that the Visiting Nurse Service of New York has developed in these areas: as community organizers, partnering with health, grassroots, and government agencies; as transitional integrators, partnering with acute-care facilities to reduce rehospitalizations; and across populations, partnering in new ways to help patients manage chronic and complex health issues in the context of their families and communities.