Integrated delivery system

An integrated delivery system (IDS) is a health system with a goal of logical integration of the delivery (provision) of health care as opposed to a fragmented system or a disorganized lack of system. The term has sometimes been used in a broad sense with reference to managed care in general (as opposed to fee-for-service care), but in the United States it now more often refers to any specific network of health care organizations constituting a corporate group that attempts to integrate care to some degree (that is, to coordinate the patient journey across care transitions). Some IDSs have an HMO component, while others are a network of physicians only, or of physicians and hospitals. Thus, the term is used broadly to define an organization that provides a continuum of health care services.^[1] Alain Enthoven, the Marriner S. Eccles Professor of Public and Private Management, at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business, argues that IDSs align incentives and resources better than most healthcare delivery systems, leading to improved medical care quality while controlling costs.^[2] The term integrated delivery network (IDN) is often synonymous.

Vendors

• ICA (HIT)

See also

• Independent practice association
• Management services organization

References