Integrated information systems: tools for affiliation.

The development of healthcare information systems as tools to facilitate business success traditionally has focused on a single profit center. The cataclysmic changes that are reshaping American healthcare have accelerated the affiliation of provider entities to form systems that have broader geographic coverage, deliver a larger portion of the provider continuum of care, and are more attractive partners for purchasers of healthcare services. Integrated and/or standardized information system technologies can provide great benefit in containing costs and optimizing quality among partners resulting from healthcare mergers and acquisitions as the new entity positions itself to increase market share and enhance its bottom line. Graduate Health System (GHS) in the Philadelphia area has demonstrated the efficacy of its investment to build a system-wide information network that delivers multiple standardized, integrated systems for both the financial and operational advantage of all component institutions. Building on its patient information system as the centerpiece of its information strategy, GHS has deployed a variety of tools across its network infrastructure that have brought new capabilities and savings to its member hospitals. In light of some of GHS's successes, other hospitals and healthcare systems may be able to re-create similar savings and efficiencies by applying like strategies in cooperation with their affiliated partners.