Coopetition

Coopetition is a coined term that combines the words "Cooperation" and "Competition." It describes a modern strategy in healthcare where participants simultaneously compete and cooperate.

»cooperative«

In the context of new healthcare communication, this means that healthcare facilities, doctors, and other service providers are in a competitive relationship with one another, yet still work together for the benefit of patients. This balance between competition and cooperation makes it possible to leverage the advantages of both approaches:

• Competition fosters innovation and quality improvements

• Cooperation enables better quality of care through knowledge exchange and coordinated treatment pathways

Examples of coopetition in healthcare include joint research projects, sharing of best practices, or collaboration within care networks—even if the participating facilities compete in other areas for patients, professionals, or resources.

This form of collaboration is becoming increasingly important as the complexity of medical care rises, and a single facility often cannot optimally cover all aspects of treatment. Coopetition allows strengths of various participants to be pooled while simultaneously retaining the quality-enhancing aspect of competition.