title: Clinical care pathways: decreasing resource utilization in head and neck surgical patients.
abstract: In this era of decreasing reimbursement, health systems have been forced to become more efficient and decrease resource utilization to remain financially viable. One of the methods of internal cost control has been the use of clinical pathways. Given the complexity of treatment of head and neck cancer patients, clinical pathways can help to standardize decision making and introduce uniformity in resource utilization. The objective of this study is to compare resource utilization and outcomes before and after implementation of a clinical pathway for head and neck surgical patients. We observed significant decreases in hospital costs as well as shorter lengths of stay after pathway implementation. It is our belief that a uniform management tool is beneficial in this complex disease.
authors.affiliation: Department of Otorhinolaryngology: Center for Head and Neck Cancer, University of Pennsylvania Health System, Philadelphia 19104, USA.
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Husbands
authors.forename: R S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Weber
authors.forename: R L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Karpati
authors.forename: G S
authors.initials: GS
authors.lastname: Weinstein
authors.forename: A A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Chalian
authors.forename: A N
authors.initials: AN
authors.lastname: Goldberg
authors.forename: E R
authors.initials: ER
authors.lastname: Thaler
authors.forename: P F
authors.initials: PF
authors.lastname: Wolf
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D019091:Critical Pathways; D005260:Female; D006258:Head and Neck Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D006295:Health Resources / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D010414:Pennsylvania; D016896:Treatment Outcome