Brave new world: case managers and the future of clinical pathways.
Since they were invented at Boston's New England Medical Center in 1985, clinical pathways have evolved from bulky academic documents to sophisticated computerized tools capable of integrating clinical and financial data. Even so, many institutions still fail to take full advantage of the opportunities clinical pathways represent. Because of the rapid pace at which new drugs and clinical techniques are developed, pathways must become more flexible and easier to update, experts say. That means introducing some type of automation to the pathway process. Another change in store for case management departments will be the increasing emphasis on using clinical pathways to help bridge the continuum of care, from physicians' offices through acute care to outpatient and even home health. Indeed, some experts predict that within the next decade it may well become illegal not to use pathways to treat certain populations of patients.
D001900:Boston; D019090:Case Management; D019091:Critical Pathways; D017598:Efficiency, Organizational; D006801:Humans; D009936:Organizational Innovation; D015143:Philadelphia; D015397:Program Evaluation; D012720:Severity of Illness Index