The power of health care value-adding partnerships: meeting competition through cooperation.

Given the hypercompetitive health care industry, proposing cooperation as a means to survive and prosper appears radical. This article develops a case for the formation of a health care value-adding partnership as a viable, if not preferred, alternative to the integrated health care system owned and controlled by a single entity. The conceptual and the practical aspects of obtaining voluntary cooperation are addressed, and examples of successful value-adding partnerships are presented.