Cost and Clinical Practice Guidelines: Can Two Wrongs Make It Right?

Abstract

In the good old days, physicians did what was best for each individual patient in their care, without considering cost or having to figure out whether an HMO or accreditation board was looking over their shoulders. Physicians never worried about practicing "cost-effective medicine," nor did they concern themselves with whether Health Plan Employer Data and Information Set (HEDIS) or some other standardized quality measure would be used to tabulate their performance.