Multi-sector consensus-based alliances, rooted in collaboration, are a critical tool for cutting through the divisive partisanship of our national discourse, providing a pathway to sustainable progress. Through the Leavitt Center for Alliances, an initiative of Health Management Associates, we have helped diverse stakeholders—public and private, government and industry, nonprofit and corporate—solve dozens of the most entrenched challenges in health care.
Consensus-based alliances can solve complex challenges faster and more creatively than any one organization alone. With the recent publication of several case studies on the Leavitt Center for Alliances website, the tools for collaboration are now more accessible than ever. The site offers a window into the Center’s proven alliance framework and showcases a range of successful collaborations that exemplify how shared purpose, a commitment to consensus, and structured governance can drive real-world impact.
The case studies bring this to life, illustrating the diversity of issues that alliances can address when built on trust, structure, and shared purpose:
- Empowering a Community Against Gang Violence – A multi-sector coalition came together to reduce gang violence, demonstrating how community-based alliances can rebuild safety and trust.
- The Long-Term Power of Alliances: Supply Chain Collaboration for Patient Safety – Leaders from across the health care supply chain collaborated to improve patient safety through aligned practices and shared goals.
- Creating Value in Business: Alliance Building at the One Intermountain Breast Care Center – A regional alliance centered around a breast care center demonstrated how aligned incentives and coordinated care can improve outcomes and reduce waste.
- Unifying the Smart Home: How Matter Brought the Industry Together – Competitors in the tech industry joined forces to create a universal smart home standard, proving that alliances can drive industry-wide innovation.
- Bringing Government and the Private Sector Together to Modernize Health Care Data Exchange – Public and private stakeholders worked together to enhance interoperability and improve access to health data.
In our own ongoing work, ranging from behavioral health integration to payment reform and data interoperability, we see firsthand how alliances are helping translate federal policy shifts into systems change. These examples reveal what’s possible when stakeholders move beyond silos and toward collective action