Embracing case management for computerization of care pathways.

Area of Science:

• Health Informatics
• Clinical Workflow Management

Background:

• Computerization of clinical pathways (CPs) aims to enhance healthcare quality and reduce costs.
• Implementing CPs faces challenges due to the need for flexibility and handling ad hoc variations in clinical tasks.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose a CMMN-based model for clinical pathways that addresses flexibility challenges.
• To demonstrate the effectiveness of case management in popularizing CPs.

Main Methods:

• Development of a clinical pathway model using the Case Management Model and Notation (CMMN) standard.
• Experimental modeling of an ambulatory congestive heart failure (CHF) clinical pathway.

Main Results:

• The proposed CMMN-based case management model effectively addresses the flexibility and variation issues in CP execution.
• The experimental modeling of a CHF ambulatory CP demonstrated the model's practical applicability.

Conclusions:

• Case management, particularly using CMMN, provides a viable approach to popularize clinical pathways.
• This approach facilitates quick deployment and execution of CPs in industrial healthcare products.