title: Successful affiliations: principles and practices.
abstract: An affiliation can help a healthcare provider prepare for the challenges of healthcare reform, the rapidly changing landscapes of the commercial insurance industry, and the public's expectations about service and quality. UC Davis Medical Center, a 645-bed tertiary hospital in Sacramento, California, with many hospital-based clinics and a community-based group of primary care clinics, has developed a number of principles for affiliation. These principles are based on its experience in legal and financial affiliations with an academic practice group, with individual and small groups of primary care physicians, and with community hospitals around oncology services linked with U.C. Davis' National Cancer Institute-designated cancer center. This article offers a process for evaluating the appropriateness of an affiliation. The chances for a successful affiliation improve if each party has indicated the value it hopes to derive and how to measure that value, has communicated with all affected constituents, and has an agreed-upon method for resolving disputes.
authors.affiliation: University of California, Davis, Medical Center, USA.
authors.forename: Ann Madden
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Rice
mesh_terms: D000046:Academic Medical Centers / Q000458:organization & administration; D002140:California; D003153:Community Health Services; D009935:Organizational Affiliation / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000592:standards*; D019982:Organizational Case Studies; D010044:Outpatient Clinics, Hospital; D014481:United States