Coalitions

Demands in healthcare have placed a strain on healthcare providers trying to provide quality care while maintaining accreditations and planning for the possibility of expansion of resources as well as patients. Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) have been used to help ease this strain and increase the capabilities of healthcare systems all over the country. In an effort to “level the playing field,” the federal government has recently decided to mandate the structure of these healthcare PPPs. That is, a new form of these partnerships (i.e. coalitions) has been designated the organizational model that healthcare PPPs must evolve into in order to receive certain types of federal grants. This chapter discusses these coalitions as well as challenges for PPPs that are just now in the process of forming. Also discussed is the increased effort required to form coalitions from PPPs that have already been in existence for any length of time.

Using Systems Analysis and Dynamics to Evaluate Public Private Partnerships with Data and Best Practices from SAFER Santa Rosa

Public private partnerships have been gaining the interest of emergency management and security-related federal organizations. In 2010, the National Academies Press published a framework for resilience-focused private-public sector collaboration which may be the catalyst for how resilience-oriented public private partnerships are developed in the future (National Academies Press. 2010). Public private partnerships can be utilized to increase citizen awareness and preparedness, to address a specific need in a community, or to accomplish any other function that brings a community and government together. “Utilized correctly, a public private partnership is a win-win situation for all participants” (Hahn, 2010, p. 274). Although perceived as very successful, no prior systems analysis has been conducted on these partnerships. In this chapter, a successful public private partnership is evaluated using systems analysis techniques. Results of that analysis, along with details of the original case study and the public private partnership itself are presented.

Closing the Gaps in Public Private Partnerships in Emergency Management

There are many differences between entities in the public and private sectors engaged in emergency management: vision, mission, goals, and objectives are only a few. To develop workable public private partnerships requires an understanding of these differences. This understanding will then provide a foundation for establishing unambiguous agreements within which each sector's roles and responsibilities are clear, and within which all entities can be successful. This chapter explores the differences between public and private sector entities, which can create gaps in understanding and communication, comparing and contrasting these differences; then, it evaluates ways the resulting gaps between entities and within public private partnerships can be closed. Comparison of the respective backgrounds and perspectives provides the material necessary to complete a gap analysis. Anecdotal information is provided that illustrates how the differences between public and private sector entities support, hinder, or manifest in public private partnerships.

Mitigating the Impact of Extreme Events

Years have gone by since 9/11/2001. Still, it seems as though it were only yesterday: the shock, the tragedy, the heartbreak. Of all the questions, one keeps coming back, “Have we learned what we need to know to mitigate the impact of such events in the future?” The answer is a hesitant “Perhaps.” Today, still dealing with an economic disaster the magnitude of which has not been experienced in decades, there is great concern that any gains made from lessons learned by 9/11 will be further eroded. In this chapter, original research considering four corporations directly involved in the September 11 attacks is revisited in view of today's emphasis on public private partnerships and economic environment. In reexamining the original research, this chapter considers the value of public private partnerships as part of the emergency management community, and as part of an effective response to future incidents.

Maximize Existing Resources with Your Public-Private Partnerships

Public private partnerships in emergency management provide a vital resource. First, this chapter introduces information on the State of California's effort to support public private partnerships. Then, the chapter presents suggestions for selling participation in these partnerships and for maximizing their effectiveness. As California has found, public private partnerships save time and money while providing invaluable resources.

Public-Private Partnerships in Support of Critical Infrastructure and Key Resources

In the absence of unlimited resources, governments typically face significant challenges in the process of allocating resources to optimize the benefits to the majority of the members of the society. Government officials look for new and creative ways to address the existing and emerging social needs. It is virtually impossible to identify universal solutions, and for that reason, it is essential to understand the implications as well as the risks associated with the use of new governance methods. This chapter describes emerging challenges in the protection of critical government assets as a result of natural and emerging man-made threats and describes the benefits and limitations derived from the use of Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) to proactively plan for the protection of those assets the government considers critical.

Considerations for a Model of Public-Private Sector Collaboration in the Provision of Disaster Relief

As disasters have grown more costly and have begun to impact greater numbers of people in recent years, there has been a call for greater cross-sector collaboration. In particular, the public sector has recognized that the private sector plays a crucial role throughout the disaster cycle, from preparedness to mitigation to response and recovery. Collaboration between the public and private sectors, however, has been difficult to achieve. This is in part due to a lack of basic shared understandings within and between the sectors. This chapter provides some definitional basics for the public and private sectors and then describes a simple framework for cross-sector collaboration that could be used to develop a full model for such collaboration as more research is done in the area.

Aligning Community Hospitals with Local Public Health Departments

This chapter reviews the current organizational relationships between public health departments, local community hospitals, and medical centers as they relate to emergency preparedness and management. To examine their collaborative role, an analysis of legislative statutes, Joint Commission compliance mandates, professional accreditation standards, NIMS task force recommendations, and eligibility criteria for federal grants was completed. The information gleaned from this process was then synthesized to offer suggestions for developing positive collaboration outcomes. Reports from the three example stakeholder organizations suggest that positive changes in the level of community relationships have occurred. Continued maturation of emergency preparedness advisory boards, task forces, and coalitions also appear to have strengthened collaboration between the public and private agencies. To further encourage a systems model of collaboration, two strategies based on coalition capacity building are recommended. Leveraging gains made in community relationships over the past few years will continue to strengthen and improve emergency preparedness and management collaborations.

Trends in Public Private Partnerships

The formation of Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) in the United States has had many cycles and revisions in the past 60 years. The middle of the first decade of the 21st century experienced huge changes in how we see public private partnerships. At the end of this first decade, two pools of thought were created differing on the true value of these partnerships. Today, public private partnerships are in many facets of public and private industry. Experts have studied what has gone right and what has failed in PPPs in terms of growth and the response to disasters within our country. From this, old ways of doing business have been discontinued and lessons learned the hard way have been used to ensure mistakes made once are not repeated. This chapter presents a review of the literature about PPPs, exploring their many facets, their strengths, and challenges.

Use Team Building to Make the Most of Your Public-Private Partnerships

Disaster response is a team effort that begins long before any disaster happens. Teams and work group dynamics have been studied by organizational theorists for decades. It is important to recognize and understand the differences and similarities between teams and work groups in order to most effectively use all teams and all team members in all phases of emergency management, particularly in disaster response. This chapter explores how this differentiation, the distinctive features of work groups and teams, can be used in different places and different phases of response to enhance the efficacy of emergency management. And, because public-private partnerships have played and will play an increasingly vital role within emergency management, this chapter discusses how to use the foundation provided by organizational theorists to make the most of public-private partnerships. This chapter discusses how to exploit differences, draw them out, and use them to enhance the response to incidents.