title: Handheld tools assess medical necessity at the point of care.
abstract: An emerging strategy to manage financial risk in clinical practice is to involve the physician at the point of care. Using handheld technology, encounter-specific information along with medical necessity policy can be presented to physicians allowing them to integrate it into their medical decision-making process. Three different strategies are discussed: reference books or paper encounter forms, electronic reference tools, and integrated process tools. The electronic reference tool strategy was evaluated and showed a return on investment exceeding 1200% due to reduced overhead costs associated with rework of claim errors.
authors.affiliation: Marketing, MDeverywhere, Inc., P.O. Box 14669, Research Triangle Park, NC 27705-4669, USA.
authors.forename: Dan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Pollard
mesh_terms: D034201:Computers, Handheld; D003658:Decision Making, Computer-Assisted; D020000:Decision Support Systems, Clinical; D017048:Health Care Costs; D006801:Humans; D019095:Point-of-Care Systems; D012051:Reimbursement Mechanisms; D012308:Risk Management / Q000191:economics / Q000379:methods*; D019564:Unnecessary Procedures / Q000191:economics