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Bazzoli, Shortell, and Dubbs et al. make a timely contribution in this issue to our understanding of emerging organizational forms in the healthcare industry, particularly within the hospital sector. They have constructed a much needed taxonomy that differentiates hospital combinations along two major dimensions:(1) their interorganizational structures, by whether or not they are systems or networks; and (2) their service configurations, that is, the ways by which services are shared or configured across the hospitals participating within the systems and networks. The latter are measured using three structural indicators derived from organization theory: differentiation, integration, and centralization.

The first dimension, interorganizational structure, examines the critically important multihospital systems that are the product of merger and acquisition activity since the late 1960s. It also includes the newer organizational …