title: Selection of workers' compensation treatment guidelines: California experience.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Workers' compensation systems increasingly use mandatory treatment guidelines to guide clinicians and for utilization management. This article describes the steps for selecting such guidelines.
  
  
  METHODS
  On the basis of experience with the RAND/University of California, Los Angeles project to help California select guidelines, we identified the necessary choices and processes for guideline selection and evaluation.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Major steps in guideline selection include: 1) define purpose; 2) assign decision-making authority; 3) decide whether to use existing guidelines or develop new ones; 4) choose whether to use one or multiple existing guidelines; 5) specify clinical topics that guidelines should address; 6) identify and screen guidelines; 7) evaluate guidelines; 8) consider implications of results; 9) select guideline(s); 10) disseminate selection; and 11) assess long-term effectiveness.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Given the many choices required, selecting mandatory workers' compensation guidelines should involve careful planning and a transparent, well-defined process.
authors.affiliation: Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Department of Family Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles, Calif, USA. pharber@mednet.ucla.edu
authors.forename: Philip
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Harber
authors.forename: Barbara O
authors.initials: BO
authors.lastname: Wynn
authors.forename: Yee-Wei
authors.initials: YW
authors.lastname: Lim
authors.forename: Soeren
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mattke
authors.forename: Steven M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Asch
authors.forename: Teryl K
authors.initials: TK
authors.lastname: Nuckols
mesh_terms: D002140:California; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D003657:Decision Making; D017408:Guidelines as Topic; D018166:Health Care Reform / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D007373:Interinstitutional Relations; D009787:Occupational Medicine / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards*; D009936:Organizational Innovation; D016730:Program Development; D015397:Program Evaluation; D012955:Societies, Medical; D014942:Workers' Compensation / Q000458:organization & administration*