Normative treatment guidelines in home care: building the case.
To effectively market programs and maximize resources under a prospective payment system, home healthcare agencies need to look closely at standardizing treatment practices by using normative treatment guidelines as a mechanism to link patient outcomes to the care provided, which can improve quality without increasing costs. This article discusses the issues, methods, and processes used to test treatment guidelines and strategies to improve existing guidelines through evidence-based research.
Wilson
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Nursing Program, University of Washington, Tacoma, USA. aawilson@u.washington.edu
D019468:Disease Management; D006699:Home Care Services / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic / Q000592:standards*; D016730:Program Development; D012015:Reference Standards; D014481:United States