Creative Affiliations for Success in Healthcare's New Era

A diverse panel of professionals in healthcare strategy, planning, and business development shared their perspectives on non-traditional partnerships at the 2015 Thought Leader Forum in Washington, D.C., during the annual SHSMD Connections conference. This report provides an overview of the forum, which focused on: examples of creative affiliations, criteria for selecting the right partner, challenges and limitations of non-merger arrangements, and communicating affiliation initiatives to stakeholders. The panelists also discussed important strategic and financial considerations for healthcare organizations related to this issue.