Impact of Guidelines on Healthcare from the Patient and Payor Perspective

Abstract

Clinical practice relies on structured learning that is applied to a patient care setting. Patients present with symptoms and providers try to fit these complaints into known disease categories. Providers depend on memorized algorithms to direct diagnosis and treatment. Well thought-out guidelines developed by professional societies and based on the best available evidence have become the standard in modern medical care. Guidelines are developed to assist practitioners in making appropriate healthcare decisions, to help standardize medical care and improve quality. Guidelines attempt to change practice behavior towards an established norm when evidence is available or toward a consensus opinion when randomized trials are lacking. Patients seeking medical care expect that their practitioner is providing up-to-date, quality medical care. The payors of this care are also interested in quality but must pay attention to medical costs. Both the patient and the payor are invested in providers who use the best available evidence in providing care that is clearly based on guideline development and dissemination.