Care Delivery and Care Management

Abstract

In today’s rapidly changing healthcare environment, integrated delivery networks (IDNs) are facing unique challenges in the clinical setting (Coddington et al. 1996). Patient care delivery has expanded outside the four walls of the hospital, coordinated care management is bridging the continuum of care, and efforts to manage costs without jeopardizing quality are paramount in all markets, regardless of managed care market stage (Shortell et al. 1996). Initiatives to vertically integrate multiple clinical entities into a single full-service care provider will present both operational and information integration challenges. Coordinating the management and delivery of patient care services across multiple geographic environments and across time will challenge current processes and information systems. As these trends continue, IDNs must learn to create integrated cross-continuum clinical processes supported by seamless information access, communication, and management (Coffey et al. 1997).