Patient care guidelines in pediatrics

The increase in availability of patient care guidelines is consistent with the expansion of managed care health care systems and enhanced efforts of health care providers to deliver evidence-based patient care. When used effectively, guidelines support: 1) the reduction of unexplained variation in health care practice; 2) education of practitioners and health care delivery systems; and 3) the continuous improvement in processes that improve patient outcomes. It is with these goals in mind that Milliman and Robertson released its latest publication of Health Care Management Guidelines entitled Pediatric Health Status Improvement and Management (HSIM). This publication contains comprehensive information on many aspects of pediatric care, from the prenatal period through adolescence, from preventive medicine through chronic care. Like other Milliman and Robertson Health Care Management Guidelines publications, Pediatric HSIM offers both treatment guides and benchmarks that enable health care professionals to provide optimal levels of care and to measure their performance against peers. The primary focus of Pediatric HSIM is on wellness across a child's lifetime, an objective that fits well with our goal as providers of care to children of keeping patients healthy through preventive medicine.