title: Sustainable network advantages: a game theoretic approach to community-based health care coalitions.
abstract: Health care organizations often enter into a cooperative arrangement to create safety-net programs and coordinate care. Maintaining effective cooperation in such alliances poses special problems that can be examined using network analysis and explained in game theory terms. A mental health coalition case study is presented using network analysis and game theory interpretations. Had a positive-sum game approach been applied to the coalition's initial design, its subsequent suboptimal performance might have been averted. The application of network analysis plus a game theoretic paradigm has significant implications for improving both the design and the coordination of such coalitions.
authors.affiliation: Pennsylvania State University, University Park, USA. eford@psu.edu
authors.forename: Eric W
authors.initials: EW
authors.lastname: Ford
authors.forename: Rebecca
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Wells
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Bailey
mesh_terms: D018672:Community Health Planning / Q000379:methods*; D003156:Community Mental Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D019033:Delivery of Health Care, Integrated / Q000458:organization & administration*; D005716:Game Theory; D006265:Health Care Coalitions; D006302:Health Services Research; D006801:Humans; D007373:Interinstitutional Relations; D007857:Leadership; D019982:Organizational Case Studies; D009936:Organizational Innovation; D010934:Planning Techniques; D016730:Program Development; D014481:United States