Collaborative partnerships: managing increased healthcare demand without increasing overall system capacity.

Collaborative partnerships can help improve integration and quality in local healthcare systems. We describe an innovative approach that was implemented following the formation of a tri-provider partnership between homecare and two acute care hospitals. The approach questioned the prevailing thought that the home is always the most appropriate and least costly location to provide services to clients traditionally served by homecare. The goal was to improve the delivery of healthcare by better integrating patient characteristics with services provided by homecare, hospitals and family physicians. The result was the implementation of a pilot project in which both homecare clients and non-urgent hospital patients could be served in a hospital-based ambulatory nursing care clinic.