Stories about what systems leave between people.

The work between institutions

Coordination has to land somewhere.

The Operational Reliability Series examines the coordination work that falls between hospitals, agencies, insurers, and families. The Weakest Link follows an acute crisis and the handoffs where care breaks down. The Invisible Architecture follows the slower crisis after care changes. The Space Between is the forthcoming institutional analysis.

A family integrator is the person who became the place where appointments, medications, documents, insurance facts, and the next handoff collect. The role is usually unpaid and unassigned. Hospitals, agencies, and insurers each hold their own record. The integrator holds the picture that has to move between them.

Operational reliability in family care is whether planned support actually happens: the shift is staffed, the medication list is current, the discharge plan survives the ride home, and someone can say who owns the next step. Coverage on paper is not the same thing as capability in the house.