Finding Like-Minded Partners to Span the Continuum of Care.

This is an era of profound industry transformation, characterized by such forces as acceleration away from inpatient-centered care and toward alternative payment models, rising rates of chronic disease, and an aging population. Add to this mix physician and nurse shortages and a newfound understanding that today's patients are informed consumers, and the reality becomes clear: Healthcare providers must be adaptable, agile, and innovative to survive. Sometimes, the best way forward in transformative times is collaboration with other like-minded organizations.For INTEGRIS, an integrated, not-for-profit health system based in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, partnering has always been a part of the corporate culture and a vital strategy in fulfilling its mission to improve the health of the people and communities it serves. In earlier days, collaborations often took the form of partnerships with community organizations to go beyond the hospital's walls and reach deeply into the community to address the underlying health needs of its population.However, the concept of partnerships has expanded to meet today's strategic business needs. INTEGRIS, for example, evaluates most partnerships in terms of population health management and the system's continuum of care. Care settings are viewed as being of three distinct types: community-based, acute, and post-acute. When it comes to health-and, increasingly, wellness-the goal of the system is to connect patients to whatever service they need, at whatever stage of life, whether that service is fully or partly owned by INTEGRIS or provided through partner affiliations.This network of partnerships involves the patient, the community, physicians, other clinicians and providers, insurers, regional collaborators, and others. INTEGRIS's partnership strategies have evolved over the years, and its partnerships have produced synergy and alignment to decrease costs, increase revenue, and better serve customers with the right care, in the right setting, at the right time.