Episodes of care: should we have them?

In this paper the authors discuss the introduction of 'episodes of care', a new system for monitoring hospital-linked patient care services. They consider the proposal in the context of clinical, financial and technical frameworks. The authors conclude that health planners are likely to benefit from the the introduction of this form of monitoring. The proposed change would also allow more accurate analysis of the true cost of interventions. However, it is likely to require significant investment in information technology and there may be loss of patient confidentiality.