title: Collaboration to improve services for the uninsured: exploring the concept of health navigators as interorganizational integrators.
abstract: This study examines one specific type of collaboration activity in a community health collaborative. The focus of the research is the operations level where services are coordinated, patients are referred, and access may be improved for vulnerable populations. Using a case study approach, we examine the creation of a new interorganizational role, the "health navigator" in the Miami-Dade Community Access Program. Drawing on traditional theoretical perspectives on coordination, we present the health navigator as an "integrator" among a complex set of safety net providers and public health insurance programs.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Services Administration, College of Health Professions, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA. clemak@hp.ufl.edu
authors.forename: Christy Harris
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Lemak
authors.forename: Christopher
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Johnson
authors.forename: Elizabeth E
authors.initials: EE
authors.lastname: Goodrick
mesh_terms: D019058:Community Networks / Q000458:organization & administration*; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration; D017598:Efficiency, Organizational; D005431:Florida; D006270:Health Facility Administrators; D006302:Health Services Research; D006801:Humans; D017057:Medically Uninsured; D019982:Organizational Case Studies; D009939:Organizations, Nonprofit