Which are the top integrated delivery networks (IDNs), and how many docs do they have?

Much is being said about the trend toward physicians becoming employees of health systems and leaving private practice, but while that is undeniably occurring, the physician profession is still relatively widely dispersed. That’s one conclusion that can be drawn from a OneKey Market Insight Report released by SK&A Information (Irvine, CA), a Cegedim company. The firm, which surveys physicians and other HCPs regularly to update industry master data management (MDM) lists, finds that overall, 412,000 HCPs are affiliated with 626 IDNs. But there’s little concentration of HCPs at these systems; the top 25 employ just under 50,000 MDs and DOs, representing 12% of the affiliated HCPs. The No. 1 system, in terms of employed HCPs, is Kaiser Permanente, with 8,940. Ascension Health, leads in number of facilities (hospitals, offices and nursing homes) with 1,049. Ascension, like five other IDNs, operates nationally, but the majority of the rest operate locally or regionally.

A similar point can be made about the number of hospitals, which is also seeing consolidation lately. According to the American Hospital Assn., there are 5,724 such facilities. The SK&A compilation shows that the top 25 IDNs comprise 1,043 of that total, or 18%.

The top 10 IDNs:

• Kaiser Permanente (Sacramento, CA)
• UC Health (Oakland, CA)
• Partners Healthcare System (Boston)
• Ascension Health (St. Louis)
• New York-Presbyterian (New York)
• University of Texas Health System (Austin)
• Sutter Health (Sacramento, CA)
• University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (Pittsburgh)
• Cleveland Clinic Health System (Cleveland)
• HCA Inc. (Nashville)