Collaboration to improve services for the uninsured: exploring the concept of health navigators as interorganizational integrators.
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.
Lemak
Christy Harris
CH
Department of Health Services Administration, College of Health Professions, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA. clemak@hp.ufl.edu
Johnson
Christopher
C
Goodrick
Elizabeth E
EE
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