An Emerging Organizational Form
Public-private partnerships have had a presence for a while in different shapes, but more comprehensive cooperative venture involving several parties of different industries are seeing a revival and have yet to be completely understood.
These entities are more based on a voluntary basis and formed by relationships rather than formal organizations, yet they are still focused on achieving specific tasks rather than just connections being formed via networks.
They join different worlds of work that are relevant to major issues by getting influential individuals on the same side for a mission based on a goal. They are particularly well-suited for addressing systemic challenges. Once they have begun, they can take advantage of functionalities rapidly and with agility. High-impact coalitions are characterized by:
Open Boundaries
Barriers to membership are low. Members donate their time, money, and skills depending on their individual capability and interests. Heads of member organizations use their individual connections to invite others to join. As more individuals sign up, the range of the team enlarges and becomes more open to its aims outside of its membership.
Obviously, an easy way to join something also makes it easy to leave if desired, but that can be beneficial in its own right: Those who are not in full agreement can just disappear without taking any action, thus bringing down the amount of disputes.
An example of this is the Covid-19 Healthcare Coalition (C19HCC), which launched in March 2020. A coalition of 18 distinct enterprises, consisting of Amazon Web Services, Epic, Mayo Clinic, and Microsoft, created a unified response to the pandemic that works in collaboration with the national and state governments.
This collaboration was made possible thanks to the hard work of a select few fiercely loyal leaders. They used their connections to assemble a collective of over 1,000 entities among 16 separate taskforces.
Barriers to membership in coalitions are low. Members offer up their time, financial resources, and specialized knowledge depending on their means and initiatives.
As an illustration, West Side United (WSU) was founded in 2017, with six large hospital systems, several local organizations, and a variety of banking institutions joining together to form the coalition. The aim is to eliminate the inequality in life expectancy that is due to the disparity in health and financial systems on Chicago’s West Side.
As the numbers of organizations involved increased, the members were able to come up with more and more inventive ways to accomplish the mission. Hospitals altered their internal operations and procedures concerning purchases, and they developed new employment opportunities.
When the COVID-19 crisis began, Mayor Lori Lightfoot requested that WSU expand its involvement and involve even more people, but this time on behalf of the whole of Chicago, to lead a comprehensive Racial Equity Rapid Response (RERR) effort.
In a matter of a few months, the RERR provided over 60,000 surgical face masks, 200,000 bottles of hand sanitizer, and 750,000 cloth facemasks to people in the area. The organization also backed up food hubs in disadvantaged neighborhoods and offered the necessary supplies to keep local businesses alive.
Emergent Structures for Evolving Tasks
Coalitions may face obstacles which no one has previously figured out how to tackle, so conversations around organization can end up consuming a lot of unnecessary time. Coalitions that have a good outcome try to avoid having too many regulations or demands and just get started. Individuals stay autonomous, still executing their individual tasks, and become involved to cooperate or supervise activities when their proficiency is needed. At distinct intervals, various sections of the group are the ones responsible for the most work.
For C19HCC, the original businesses that got involved expanded by people talking about it and sharing the information on the web. Members arranged themselves into working teams concentrating on particular topics like data analysis, supply lines, telemedicine, and the discovery of untruths.
The needed skills to do certain tasks have changed as some obstacles were understood and solved while new difficulties have appeared. At the weekly online meetings, the members concentrated on getting tasks done and growing fresh connections. At the monthly strategy gatherings, they discussed news and progress without exhausting each other with excessive information. The coalition was held together by loyal personnel, who managed their calendars and duties effectively.
In the early stages of the pandemic, the main challenge was ensuring New York had adequate supplies of personal protective equipment. The coalition came together to create a task force to look into the logistics of delivering supplies and urge global businesses to modify their production lines to manufacture healthcare products. It conducted an investigation, collected data, and released information about sterilization methods in order to make it possible to use PPE again.
This additionally designed a method for organizing PPE for dispersal. The governor’s office gave New York City hospitals 575,000 KN95 respirators in the spring of 2020, providing an initial success inspiring further action. Subsequently, with the increased importance of information, another group emerged to create data collection and analytics solutions to assist those making decisions. This work helped compile a broad, open-access repository of hundreds of data sets, models, and visual presentations.
Collaborations need to be managed carefully to make certain that participants don’t end up contradicting each other or repeating similar work. Sometimes, entrepreneurs will set up or assemble a special group of people to take on this essential task. MITR
E, a not-for-profit corporation aided by the federal government, worked as a mediator for the C19HCC. In Chicago, WSU functioned with the assistance of Rush University Medical Center, one of the starting hospitals, before employing an executive director for a few years. With a reliable group serving as a support system, members can more easily come to an agreement.
A Mission-Determined Life Span
Coalitions of multiple entities are formed for the purpose of tackling challenges that are too complex to be addressed by any single group acting alone. If the trouble at hand is urgent yet transient–like certain elements of the Coronavirus outbreak–it will be short-lived, vanishing as the requirement fades away.
The need for systemic reform is particularly acute in order to tackle persistent, multifaceted issues that are embedded in the structure of society. As certain issues are taken care of, others begin to come up, making it necessary for successful collaborations to become structures that manage numerous activities and a steady stream of problems. One task is completed and then followed by another as processes get adjusted to an alternate approach.
Washington State University is an example of an organization that is developing and advancing over time, yet doing so with great attention and caution. The goal of mitigating the variance in life-span among races can only be realized through persistent and far-reaching action on the part of employment, education, housing, medical care, and fiscal investment. After a period of time, WSU hired an executive director, but it maintains a small staff with people constantly involved.
As the pandemic caused it to take on more responsibilities, the main concern for the heads of the organization was determining whether it should limit its reliance on its original location at Rush University Medical Center and become an individual organization. The choice was to establish official legal frameworks while at the same time stressing strong guidance from its members.
In general, high-powered alliances maintain a flexible framework and regulations, but keep the connections between them strong. Members have freedom and decide how much they want to be involved, but strong ties between them work as a type of guide to help get the job done effectively.
Coalitions seek breadth and maximize diversity. Organizations and their heads come forward to assist, but also have the ability to walk away should the situation change. Our research looking into influential groups who are reacting to the COVID-19 pandemic reveals that five important organizational elements are the foundation for success.
Topic Collection: Coalition Administrative Issues
- Coalition Administrative Issues
Making the most of the limited supplies within a single hospital to react to urgent situations can be tough for even the biggest and most well-prepared medical centers. Healthcare coalitions (HCC) can be both beneficial to a jurisdiction and boost community preparedness in terms of personnel and financial savings.
Additionally, the amalgamation of healthcare, emergency management, and public health resources across a region by HCCs promotes collaboration, coordination, and a higher level of resilience.
Financial resources can be fleeting, and coalitions should aim to be financially independent while also involving their members in knowledge-sharing and unified activities. Healthcare coalitions that thrive depend on strong fundamentals constructed on reliance, competency, and optimal procedures.
The outbreak of COVID-19 posed a challenge to the basic components and associations that already existed, yielding lessons to take away and utilize them when building future management systems.
This Topic Collection was updated in November 2022 and it has a variety of resources such as bylaws, plans, tools, templates, and advice on how to maintain and develop a coalition.
Must Reads
ASPR TRACIE. (2015). Strategic Development for Building Operational Healthcare Coalitions.
In this webinar, experts discuss the implementation of healthcare coalitions and relay requests for expert advice received by the ASPR TRACIE organization about the structures and duties of healthcare coalitions during times of response and recovery.
ASPR TRACIE. (2017). A Conversation on Building and Maintaining: Financing Structures for Healthcare Alliances. U.S. The Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response is part of the Department of Health and Human Services.
During this webinar, representatives from healthcare coalitions from all over the United States will present their stories about utilizing a variety of funding strategies to maintain their healthcare coalitions.
ASPR TRACIE. (2019). Healthcare Coalition Resource and Gap Analysis Tool. U.S. The Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response is located within the Department of Health and Human Services.
This tool was created to aid in constructing a collective comprehension of the resources and holes of the Health Care Coalition (HCC) allies and what strategies to employ to prioritize which deficiencies to close. There may be a deficiency in plans or protocols, personnel, apparatus and materials, capabilities and knowledge, and/or maintenance.
Coalition Bylaws and Governance
Bluegrass Healthcare Coalition. (2021). Bluegrass Healthcare Coalition Bylaws.
The following outlines the details of how the Kentucky healthcare coalition is managed, its mission, sources of income, protocols for members, and other points of organization. It could act as a template for organizing other medical alliances.
Central Florida Disaster Medical Coalition. (2016). Central Florida Disaster Medical Coalition Strategic Plan 2016-2018.
This document outlines the board members of the coalition and their aims for the 2016-18 period. Objectives that conform to the “SMART” model are incorporated and include metrics, the name of the person responsible, and a status/action field.
Central Florida Disaster Medical Coalition. (2019). Governance Policies.
This text outlines the regulations of the Central Florida Disaster Medical Coalition. The below components are involved: Rules of Conduct/Ethics, Selection/Voting Practices for the Board, Orientation for the Board, Signing Up/Training of Members, Connectivity, Financial Standards/Practices, Obligations & Tasks of the Coalition, Risk-Centric Project Financing Approach, and Handling of Disputes.
Education and Training
Center for Domestic Preparedness. (n.d.). Healthcare Coalition Response Leadership Course. (Accessed 10/31/2022.)
This three-day program offers training and facilitated conversations about healthcare coalition readiness, the strongest methods, and experiences from setting up a practical healthcare-coalition structure and completing healthcare-coalition planning. The attendees of this event will be educated on creating measurable goals, points indicating a need for action, and strategies for recognizing potential threats, as well as what steps to take to effectively manage any effects and return to normal operations.
Center for Public Health Practice. (2018). Coalitions. Colorado School of Public Health.
This course is designed to provide nurses, physicians, other healthcare personnel, and public health professionals with guidance on creating successful partnerships between communities through a series of eight steps. It also includes useful strategies and concepts for healthcare. Attendees will also acquire information on sustaining a coalition and training coalition leadership.
Guidance
* ASPR TRACIE. (2017). Exploring and Prolonging: A Conversation About Healthcare Coalition Financial Plans U.S. The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the Assistant Secretary for Disaster Readiness and Response
For this webinar, representatives from healthcare coalitions from different parts of the United States are discussing the methods they use to keep their healthcare alliances afloat financially.
The National Association of County and City Health Officials and the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials are organizations that provide support and resources to health organizations. (2010). Healthcare Coalition Matrix.
This matrix is beneficial because it looks at the differences and similarities between many healthcare coalition models. Pay attention to the fact that some of the connections in the matrix are not functioning.
Lessons Learned
Barnett, D. Knieser L., and Errett N.A., et al. (2020). Reexamining Health-Care Coalitions in Light of COVID-19. Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness.
This article examines the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of healthcare coalition models while they face the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. The authors provide detailed proposals for advanced coalitions that involve analyzing HCCs more carefully, reappraising current HCC leadership, and fostering future healthcare readiness initiatives.
Devereaux, A., Yang, H., Seda, G., et al. (2020). Maximizing the Use of Limited Resources During the Coronavirus Outbreak: Prompt Assembly of a Healthcare Partnership and Prioritization Squads in San Diego, California. Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness.
The authors outline the quick creation of a healthcare coalition in reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic, which entails the establishment of a crisis care committee and additional groups dedicated to disseminating limited resources, teaching and organizing triage teams and providing updated information.
Plans, Tools, and Templates
ASPR TRACIE. (2015). Strategic Development for Building Operational Healthcare Coalitions.
In this seminar, the speakers discuss how to put healthcare coalitions into action and provide an overview of the requests for help that ASPR TRACIE has gotten on healthcare coalition constructs and their role in dealing with the situation and its aftermath.
ASPR TRACIE. (2019). Healthcare Coalition Resource and Gap Analysis Tool. U.S. The Office for Readiness and Response, within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
This tool was made to assist healthcare alliance partners in creating a shared perception of their assets and present shortages, as well as methods for evaluating which deficiencies are higher priority. There may be a lack of sufficient plans, staffing, apparatus and supplies, abilities and knowledge, and/or services. HCCs should adapt the template to demonstrate the coalition members, resources, and specific characteristics of their community.
A tool known as the HCC Aggregator permits data collected across numerous HCCs to be consolidated to illustrate a greater area of terrain, such as a complete state.
DC Emergency Healthcare Coalition. (2022). Washington, DC Emergency Healthcare Coalition Templates.
Provided by the Washington, DC Emergency Healthcare Coalition (DCEHC), the materials featured in this resource were given to ASPR TRACIE. Although these documents are not the latest used by the group, they remain strong models and can be applied by.