CARE GUIDELINES FROM MCG

3.0
2.5
2.0
1.5
1.0
CARE GUIDELINES
FROM MCG
Evidence-based guidelines from MCG span the continuum of care, supporting
clinical decisions and care planning, easing transitions between care settings,
and facilitating conversations between providers and payors.
BY THE NUMBERS
References reviewed and ranked for the current edition:
118,982
References cited in the current edition: 25,789
Number of these that are new: 6,606
Number that are annotated: 11,604
Diagnosis-specific acute care Optimal Recovery Guidelines: 292
Unique citations in acute care Optimal Recovery Guidelines: 7,009
Average references cited per acute care Optimal Recovery Guideline: 24
Total ambulatory care guidelines
(including guidelines for referral management): 692
Total care management tools: 19
Total patient handouts: 868
Number of hospitals, physician groups, health plans, and other healthcare
management organizations that license the care guidelines: 2,200
Percentage of commercially insured Americans whose care is
supported by the care guidelines: 70
*Guideline-related figures here reflect the 18th edition
THE FIRST WORD IN EFFECTIVE CARE
Care guidelines should support the clinical judgment
of highly qualified physicians, not replace it. The best
guidelines distill the latest research, helping you hone
your knowledge of a condition or procedure. The best
guidelines foster evidence-based conversation between
providers and payors, conversation that drives the
delivery of appropriate care at the right time and in the
right setting. The best guidelines improve outcomes by
educating patients and engaging them as partners in their treatment.
TRANSPARENT, COMPREHENSIVE,
AND ACTIONABLE EVIDENCE
Care guidelines from MCG support care decisions by
providing ready access to the most complete, thoroughly
reviewed clinical evidence in the industry — either online
or through one of our interactive software solutions.
Inpatient guidelines include contextual references and
footnotes, annotated bibliographies, evidence grades
of key sources, and a list of supporting references and
abstracts pertinent to the given diagnosis.
Our clinical editors develop the care guidelines in
strict accordance with the principles of evidence-
based medicine. Relevant randomized controlled trials,
meta-analyses, and systematic reviews published in
peer-reviewed literature have primacy, followed by
observational studies and information obtained
from textbooks and specialty society guidelines.
When published studies or information is scant or
nonexistent, MCG recognizes the value of frontline
experience and incorporates data from unpublished
sources, including large database analysis, quality
improvement projects, community experience, and
expert opinion.
Sample of Acute Care Guidelines in the 18th Edition — Total Unique References*
Guideline
Number of References
Heart Failure
78
Pneumonia, Community Acquired
73
Myocardial Infarction
72
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)
71
Hip Arthroplasty
51
Lumbar Fusion
57
Asthma
50
Diabetes
45
Transient Ischemic Attack (TIA)
44
Syncope
45
*Care guidelines integrate national quality measures and accreditation requirements
Evidence Grades
Evidence Grade
1
Description
• Meta-analyses
• Randomized controlled trials with meta-analysis
• Randomized controlled trials
• Systematic reviews
2
• Observational studies, such as:
• Cohort studies with statistical adjustment for potential confounders
• Cohort studies without adjustment
• Case series with historical or literature controls
• Uncontrolled case series
• Published guidelines
• Statements in published articles or textbooks
3
• Unpublished data, such as:
• Large database analyses
• Written protocols or outcomes reports from large practices
• Expert practitioner reports
SUPERIOR DEPTH AND BREADTH OF CONTENT
Unlike body system criteria, inpatient guidelines
from MCG are designed to guide care toward optimal
recovery using disease- and procedure-specific
best practices and length of stay benchmarks. MCG
offers the most thorough coverage of acute inpatient
conditions and procedures on the market — 292
guidelines in all, including 238 adult and 54 pediatric.
Licensed by CMS vendors and 8 of the 10 largest
commercial health plans in the United States, care
guidelines from MCG cover the entire continuum of
care — within and beyond hospital walls:
• Ambulatory care
• Observation care
• Acute inpatient care
MCG also offers 29 distinct General Recovery Care
guidelines to support the care management of
complex cases or when no acute care guideline seems
applicable. General Recovery Guidelines are organized
by problem area and body system and feature
benchmark patient care and recovery data.
• Intensive care
• Neonatal intensive care
• Long-term acute hospital care
• Inpatient rehabilitation care
• Sub-acute facility care
• Skilled nursing facility care
• Home care
• Behavioral health care in multiple settings
SUPPORT FOR CARE MANAGEMENT AND
EXTENDED STAY REVIEW
Every Optimal Recovery Care guideline features an
Optimal Recovery Course, presented in a care pathway
format, which specifies the level of care, patient
activity, clinical status, and interventions appropriate
for each day of a patient’s stay in the hospital. Recovery
milestones provide clear markers of a patient’s progress
toward discharge. The ability to identify variation
from optimal progression — the progress made by an
optimally responsive patient receiving optimal care —
gives the clinician the opportunity to review the cause
of the variance to determine whether it was medically
necessary or potentially avoidable.
In addition to describing optimal care and recovery, the
care guidelines also address patients who need to stay
in the hospital beyond the goal length of stay as well as
those who develop complications or exacerbations of
comorbid conditions. Extended Stay guidance in each
acute care guideline is diagnosis-specific and includes
references to supporting evidence.
GOAL LENGTH OF STAY
Every diagnosis-based acute care guideline identifies a
Goal Length of Stay (GLOS), which is the length of stay
possible for a substantial number of patients for a particular diagnosis given optimal recovery, decision-making, and health system design and performance. GLOS
data can help identify and track performance against
attainable realistic length of stay goals.
BENCHMARKING DATA
The Benchmarks and Data Website, available through
a link on the care guidelines homepage, provides
statistical companions to these and other data sets,
including readmission rate benchmarks and geometric
lengths of stay by region. It also includes healthcare
utilization models for inpatient, home care, recovery
facility care, and behavioral health services for both
commercial and Medicare patients.
IMPLEMENTATION AND
TRAINING INCLUDED IN
LICENSE
An MCG license includes initial and annual training
assessments, custom training plans, guideline
adoption assistance, on-demand training, and regular
webinars for beginning and advanced users. Guideline
Adoption Advisors provide on-site assistance with
implementation; the only cost of this service are the
travel expenses of our staff.
“The evidence – we all go back
to it, all of us, whether we’re
case managers, nurses, or
social workers. The world of
healthcare is evidence-based.”
Director of Case Management
Definition
Supporting Reference
Annotation
Evidence Grade
Readmission Risk Assessment
Footnote
Recovery Milestone
For more information on the care guidelines, licensing, or training, please call us at
+1 888 464 4746 or visit us at www.mcg.com.
MCG
901 Fifth Avenue, Suite 2000
Seattle, WA 98164
ABOUT MCG
MCG, now part of the Hearst Health network, independently develops and produces evidence-based
clinical guidelines and software used by more than 2,200 clients, including 1,300 hospitals and eight of the
ten largest U.S. health plans. Updated annually by an experienced team of clinicians, the care guidelines
support the care management of a majority of Americans. For more information, visit www.mcg.com.
MCG is part of the Hearst Health network, which also includes FDB (First Databank), Zynx Health,
Homecare Homebase, and Hearst Health International. The mission of the Hearst Health network is to
help guide the most important care moments by delivering vital information into the hands of everyone
who touches a person’s health journey. Each year in the U.S., care guidance from the Hearst Health
network reaches 84 percent of discharged patients, 174 million insured individuals, 35 million home health
visits, and 4 billion prescriptions. Extensions of the Hearst Health network include Hearst Health Ventures
and the Hearst Health Innovation Lab. www.hearsthealth.com