CLINICAL PRACTICE GUIDELINE IMPACT ON PHYSICIAN BEHAVIOR

Executive Summary

CLINICAL PRACTICE GUIDELINE IMPACT ON PHYSICIAN BEHAVIOR is still unproven, Agency for Health Care Policy & Research Administrator-designate Clifton Gaus maintained at a National Health Lawyers Association meeting April 7. The idea that guidelines have an impact on clinical practice "is well accepted... by both professional communities and the large [payer] organizations," Gaus said. However, he added, "we're a far ways away...from proving to the world that the use of those guidelines in fact changes dramatically the behavior of physicians."