Consensus creates effective programs. "Quick response service" project reveals importance of stakeholders' input.

In the Hamilton-Wentworth area of Ontario, Canada, three acute care hospitals and a home care program joined together to try to reduce local senior citizens' admissions to hospitals and visits to emergency rooms. They hoped to achieve this by providing seniors with care in their homes. Realizing that the project would have to employ collaborative decision making, its cosponsors selected participants from both the hospitals (for example, …