Integrated Healthcare Systems: Analysis, Benefits, and Examples Report

This report delves into the concept of integrated healthcare systems, emphasizing the collaboration among healthcare professionals to provide comprehensive patient care. It defines interprofessional health care and highlights the advantages of information sharing, coordinated treatment plans, and cost-effective care. The report distinguishes between horizontal and vertical integration, using Adventist Health as a prominent example of a vertically integrated system. It describes Adventist Health's structure, services, and the benefits it offers to the community, including tele-pharmacy services and a focus on patient safety and quality of care. The report also references key studies and articles that support the concepts discussed, providing a well-rounded overview of integrated healthcare systems and their practical applications.

Running head: INTEGRATED OF HEALTH SYSTEMS
INTEGRATED OF HEALTH SYSTEMS
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1INTEGRATION OF HEALTH SYSTEMS
An approach that is characterized by a high level of collaboration among the health
professionals and their communication with each other is termed as the interprofessional
health care or integrated health care (Shi & Singh, 2015). Integrated health care system aims
in the sharing of the information that is related to the patient’s physiological condition among
the members of the team. They also set up an appropriate treatment plan according to the
patient’s physiological, psychological and the social needs and provide a better health care
facility.
The integrated health care system helps to reduce the depression that a patient may
often suffer from. They also help to reduce the cost of the treatment as well as improve the
quality of care provided to the patient. It also makes the patient’s access easy to the health
care system. An integration of the health care system is meant to provide all the requirements
of the patient and as a result it increases the quality of the service and is cost effective.
Horizontal integration in a health care can be stated as the coordination of various
activities among the health care facilities that are in same stage. These include the
multispeciality hospitals (Evans et al., 2014). Vertical integration in a health care is the
service coordinations among the operating units that operate in a different manner.
Adventist health is one of the vertically integrated health care systems that readily
increase the quality of the health care that is being provided to the people of my community.
It is comprised of forty-four hospitals, a large number of clinics and centers for the
outpatients, rural health clinics, joint-venture retirement centers along with a wide number of
medical staffs and the physicians.
The Adventist health is located in Roseville, California and offers a direct medical
care as well as provides tele-pharmacy services (CRAWFORD, 2014). The tele-pharmacy
provides services in the rural area which helps the hospitals located in this area to improve

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their pharmacy capabilities. This helps the people in the rural areas to get a better health care
service. They segregated their services into categories which ensure the safety of the patient
when exposed to a certain medication, the experience of the patient, readmissions,
nosocomial infections and many more. The patients get a better quality of health care services
and get a compassionate care from the health care providers of the Adventist health.
The Adventist Health also provides engineering services like imaging, laboratory,
supplying of the medical gases that is required by the patients and clinical engineering
(Baker, Bundorf & Kessler, 2014). They provide a cost effective health care services which
are of better quality. They provide service to a large number of populations through their
different outlets of hospital, clinics and rural health clinics.

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References
Baker, L. C., Bundorf, M. K., & Kessler, D. P. (2014). Vertical integration: hospital
ownership of physician practices is associated with higher prices and spending. Health
Affairs, 33(5), 756-763, doi: 10.1377/hlthaff.2013.1279
CRAWFORD, M. (2014). Technology Opens Promising Portals. Health progress (Saint
Louis, Mo.), 96(1), 18-21, retrieved from https://www.chausa.org/docs/default-
source/health-progress/technology-opens-promising-portals.pdf?sfvrsn=0
Evans, J. M., Baker, R. G., Berta, W., & Jan, B. (2014). The evolution of integrated health
care strategies. In Annual Review of Health Care Management: Revisiting the
Evolution of Health Systems Organization (pp. 125-161). Emerald Group Publishing
Limited, retrieved from
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Jenna_Evans/publication/261767268_The_Evolu
tion_Of_Integrated_Health_Care_Strategies/links/0046352c76d9e7cd18000000/The-
Evolution-Of-Integrated-Health-Care-Strategies.pdf
Shi, L., & Singh, D. A. (2015). Essentials of the US health care system. Jones & Bartlett
Publishers, retrieved from
http://www.jblearning.com/samples/0763763802/63800_fmxx_final.pdf