title: Monitoring the progress of system integration.
abstract: As providers of health care face the multiple challenges of today's health care environment, many believe that integrated delivery systems promise the structure needed to provide high-quality, cost-efficient care. They make structural and process changes with the expectation that those changes will improve system performance. But few systems actually measure progress in creating an integrated system. This article describes one health care system's strategy for introducing organizational measures to create an integrated system scorecard and focuses on the development, results, and use of the staff survey. The survey provides reliable indicators of system integration. Linking the survey results with network performance measures, in turn, provides managers with tools for judging whether system integration is associated with improved system performance.
authors.affiliation: Management Consultation Program, HSR&D Management Decision and Research Center, Department of Veterans Affairs and Health Services Department, Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
authors.forename: Carol VanDeusen
authors.initials: CV
authors.lastname: Lukas
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Meterko
authors.forename: Susan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lowcock
authors.forename: Renee
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Donaldson-Parlier
authors.forename: Michelle
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Blakely
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Davies
authors.forename: Robert A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Petzel
mesh_terms: D003625:Data Collection; D019033:Delivery of Health Care, Integrated / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000592:standards; D017598:Efficiency, Organizational; D006787:Hospitals, Veterans / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000592:standards; D015146:Midwestern United States; D009936:Organizational Innovation; D018511:Systems Integration; D017749:Total Quality Management; D014481:United States; D014493:United States Department of Veterans Affairs