Integrated delivery system

An integrated delivery system (IDS) is a network of health care organizations under a parent holding company. Some IDS have an HMO component, while others are a network of physicians only, or of physicians and hospitals. Thus, the term is used broadly to define an organization that provides a continuum of health care services. Alain Enthoven, the Marriner S. Eccles Professor of Public and Private Management, at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business, argues that IDSs align incentives and resources better than most healthcare delivery systems, leading to improved medical care quality while controlling costs. Integrated delivery systems are one example of the emergence of managed care organizations in the United States.