title: They're back! Clinical pathways are in favor again.
abstract: Clinical pathways, which fell out of favor in recent years, are being reinvented as changes in reimbursement require hospitals to get a handle on resource consumption and healthcare costs. According to some case management experts: Hospitals need to monitor and control spending to survive under value-based purchasing, Medicare spending-per-beneficiary, and bundled payments. Clinical pathways reduce variation in care which can, in turn, improve care, decrease length of stay, and cut mortality rates. Development of pathways should be a team effort. Case managers should take the lead in seeing that pathways are followed.
mesh_terms: D019090:Case Management; D019091:Critical Pathways; D006761:Hospitals; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care