Zooming out: Inter-organizational collaboration and resource integration for improving healthcare

Paper in proceeding, 2017

Traditionally, healthcare is organized in a linear logic and – as a consequence – isolated to the patient-staff dyad. While this logic may be appropriate for certain types of healthcare services, it may be inappropriate for others. The inappropriateness may include that other players are excluded from healthcare development, and that the patient is relegated to a passive role. In complementing traditional healthcare management, this paper proposes a networked logic of healthcare organization, borrowing mainly from service logic theory in which all actors are regarded important integrators of intangible resources in complex networks.

The research aim of this study was to create a greater understanding of a networked logic in healthcare by investigating what actors that get involved in these relationships and what kind of resources they integrate with one another. Two empirical cases are provided in which a networked logic has proved more adequate than the predominant healthcare organization: (1) co-design of a cervical cancer screening program in a multicultural area, (2) designing a service recognizing the life-situation (beyond disease) of users. In both cases, bringing in the knowledge and skills from a variety of sectors (public, private, and third sector) and a multiplicity of actors (for example locals, (former) patients, and relatives) proved important in developing healthcare services more likely to address the needs of people.