Frontiers: Have Integrated Health Networks Failed?

Lead article by Leonard Friedman, Ph.D., and Jim Goes, Ph.D.

Softbound, 54 pp, Summer 2001, ISSN 0748-8157
Order code: WWW1-J467,
Price: $29.00

Lead authors Leonard Friedman and Jim Goes examine the current reality of the nation's integrated health networks. When the IHN concept dominated the healthcare scene in the 1990s, it was touted as the ideal method of healthcare delivery. Hospitals, physican groups, and nursing homes rushed to partner with one another in order to survive in an increasingly competitive environment. However, the authors argue that the promise of integrated delivery networks has fallen short, especially considering the huge amount of financial, human, and clinical resources that went into the IHN effort.

Commentators Dean Coddington, Nancy Linenkugel, Roice Luke, and James Begun disagree with the lead authors' conclusion that IHNs have, for the most part, failed. Each commentator adds their own opinion and perspective on the integrated system model.

Neither the contributors nor the authors have completely given up on the idea of the integrated health network—the appeal of a network built on the concept of high quality and cost-effective care is too great.