collaboratives

Collaboratives are structured networks in which multiple organizations or practitioners work together to implement and spread improvements in a shared area of practice. They typically involve a sponsor or facilitator, participating sites, a core team, and learning activities designed to accelerate change.

Key features include common aims and measures, data sharing, and regular communication. Participants engage in facilitated learning sessions, site visits, and ongoing coaching, often using improvement science methods such as Plan-Do-Study-Act cycles. Data are collected and reviewed to track progress, benchmark performance, and guide next steps. While most common in healthcare and social services, collaboratives appear in education, public health, and technology sectors as well.

Purposes and goals focus on accelerating the adoption of evidence-based practices, reducing practice variation, improving outcomes, safety, patient or client experience, and efficiency. They also aim to build capacity for ongoing improvement beyond the collaborative period.

Organizationally, collaboratives can take the form of voluntary networks, quasi-public programs, or funded projects. Participants may be hospitals, clinics, health systems, or community agencies, with funding from government agencies, foundations, or professional associations.

Benefits often include faster dissemination of best practices, enhanced peer learning, resource sharing, and reduced duplication of effort. Limitations and challenges can include variable participant engagement, questions about data quality and generalizability, the resource demands of participation, and sustainability after the formal collaborative ends.

Notable examples include improvement collaboratives run by organizations such as the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, which disseminate and support collaborative work to address topics like patient safety, chronic disease management, and care transitions.