Integrated Delivery System
Integrated Delivery Systems (IDS) are becoming the primary means of delivery care. Most IDS's consolidate under one corporate umbrella with multiple types of care providers that serve different aspects of the care continuum (i.e., hospitals and primary care clinics). Some even include their own health care financing that offers health plans and pays for care. This transformation is largely the result of pressures to reduce the cost of care, enhance the ability to measure and improve the quality of care, and move care delivery to less expensive settings. Access to these data is likely to expand well beyond the organizational setting that initially gathered the data to include sharing of data among providers and organizations that are members of the IDS. Managed care programs, such as HMO's are good examples of an Integrated Delivery System.
To further the demand for information technology in health care are the other organizations that collect health information. These organizations are the ones that typically provide products and services to the health care industry. Examples include medical and surgical suppliers, pharmaceutical companies, reference laboratories, and companies that provide information technology services.
