PREDICTING AGENCY PARTICIPATION IN INTERORGANIZATIONAL NETWORKS PROVIDING COMMUNITY CARE

In response to health care reform, health care providers have begun to develop interorganizational networks. At present, however, relatively little is known about factors facilitating participation in networks. To this end, organizational characteristics and views were obtained f rom key informants from bath ''Lead'' and ''Affiliate'' Agencies parti cipating in the networks for the Living-at-Home Program (LAHP) Demonst ration (N = 131) using an Organizational Change Survey. Logistic regre ssion analysis was used to examine factors related to network member a gencies' participation. Significant relationships were found between d ecreased participation and lack of agreement between network agencies regarding expectations (P = 0.02), membership in a network with a Medi cal Lead Agency (P < 0.01), and Lead Agency inexperience (P < 0.01). A gencies with lower ratings of the impact that LAHP had on their commun ity were more likely to decrease their participation (P = 0.01). The n umber of unoccupied nursing home beds in the community was positively and significantly related to decreased participation (P < 0.001). Thes e results suggest that leadership skills of the Lead Agency, and in pa rticular, experience, may be among the chief requirements for the crea tion and development of successful networks, and confirm that inexperi enced Lead Agencies may face an uphill battle in terms of recruiting a nd maintaining network members.