Evidence-based Medicine: A Tool for Physicians AND Patients to Improve Quality and Reduce Costs

Bill Reece, CEO HealthGate Data Corp. and Paul Keckley, Director, Vanderbilt University Center for Evidence Based Medicine, present the value of evidence-based clinical guidelines as a tool for both physicians and patients to improve the quality of care and reduce costs. They describe an Oklahoma network of 4,500 doctors and 120 hospitals and its program to reward both doctors and consumers for following a set of 116 guidelines. The clinical guidelines and point of care tools are created and reviewed by a consortium of academic medical centers including Duke University, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Emory University and Oregon Health Sciences University. Doctors will get higher reimbursement for using the system, even if they don’t end up adhering to the guidelines in every case, if they indicate acceptable reasons for not using them. Patients will be offered a consumer-friendly version of the guidelines, and will get “points” to lower their co-payments if they correctly answer questions designed to determine if they understand and are likely to comply with their regimens.