Monitoring the progress of system integration

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.