Partnerships between health care and social service organizations may contribute to lower health care use and spending. Such partnerships are increasing, including Area Agencies on Aging (AAAs) working and contracting with health care organizations. Nevertheless, knowledge about how AAAs establish and manage successful collaborations is limited. We sought to understand how AAAs establish and manage partnerships with health care organizations. Results showed highly-partnered AAAs were characterized by 3 distinctive features of organizational culture: (1) attention to external environments; (2) openness to innovation and change; and (3) risk taking to learn; improve and grow. 

The Gerontologist, doi:10.1093/geront/gnac019

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