Integrated Delivery System: An Opportunity or a Dilemma

A 1994 survey of hospital and health network leaders shows that 71% indicated that their organizations either already belong to or are in the process of forming an integrated delivery system. Integration is a process of pulling the entire continuum of care into one system to provide cost-effective h...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nursing management 1995-07, Vol.26 (7), p.20-23
Main Author: STAHL, DULCELINA A
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Advantages
Alliances
Continuity of Patient Care
Delivery of Health Care - organization & administration
Economies of scale
Health care delivery
Health care expenditures
Health care networks
Health care policy
Health maintenance organizations
HMOs
Home health care
Horizontal integration
Hospitals
Humans
Industrywide conditions
Information systems
Infrastructure
Integrated delivery systems
Integration
Market shares
Medical referrals
Multi-Institutional Systems - organization & administration
Nursing
Organizational structure
Patients
Physicians
PPOs
R&D
Research & development
Skilled Nursing Facilities - organization & administration
Subacute care
Vertical integration
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Summary:A 1994 survey of hospital and health network leaders shows that 71% indicated that their organizations either already belong to or are in the process of forming an integrated delivery system. Integration is a process of pulling the entire continuum of care into one system to provide cost-effective health-care services in the most appropriate setting. The literature reveals 4 components of an integrated delivery system: 1. horizontal integration, 2. physician integration, 3. insurance capabilities, and 4. vertical integration. Through integration, healthcare providers can improve their market positions with purchasers of healthcare services who employ managed care. Subacute care providers need to seize this opportunity by becoming part of an integrated delivery system. To achieve this, freestanding skilled nursing facilities that provide subacute care services need to form alliances with the hospitals in their service area to become part of the loop.
ISSN:0744-6314
1538-8670
DOI:10.1097/00006247-199507000-00005