Characteristics and Quality of Inpatient Stays at Hospitals Affiliated With Health Systems, 2009–2012

Today over half of community hospitals are part of multihospital health systems that are owned, leased, sponsored, or contract managed by a central organization.1 The rest remain as independent hospitals. Some multihospital health systems provide integrated care delivery through centralized management, whereas others are decentralized, with member hospitals associated primarily through unified ownership. The literature suggests that how a hospital is organized along these dimensions may affect the cost and quality of care, potentially through centralized services and increased communication between provider organizations.2,3