Our findings are particularly
salient in an era of scarce funding, which has forced health
and human service managers, service professionals, and
planners to consider various forms of networks and strategic
alliances for increasing administrative efficiencies while
enhancing the level of services for clients.
We have
demonstrated that merely integrating services among
provider organizations will not result in an effective system.
Networks can lead to improved system-level outcomes, but
only when network integration is centralized, external control
is direct and nonfragmented, the system is stable, and
resources are adequate.