Michael Hansen, president and CEO of Columbus (Neb.) Community Hospital, had to address the desire of the institution’s stakeholders to keep it local and independent while also trying to provide integrated and coordinated care in challenging reimbursement times in healthcare.

His solution: Having the hospital join up with a collaborative of three metro health systems and six rural hospitals in the new “Regional Provider Network.”

The idea, of course, is to gain a merger’s economic and clinical attractions without the drawbacks.  So far, it seems to have worked.