Ending the technology paradox: healthcare management technologies for clinical decision making.

As this article has shown, advances are beginning to put an end to the technology paradox that has hindered the industry's efforts to manage care better. Whereas in the past the management side of the healthcare industry has been slow to adopt new technologies, recent years have seen an explosion in the development and use of new tools for managing care. Most of these tools have traditionally focused on managing the administrative and financial aspects of providing care; however, that has also begun to change. Software systems incorporating clinical decision support criteria permit healthcare professionals to make clinical decision-making part of the care management process conveniently and efficiently. Clinical decision support criteria are also helping to change the focus of managed care. At the beginning of the managed care era, insurers and managed care companies concentrated primarily on reigning in costs, in many cases by restricting the types and duration of care provided to their members. Although these restrictions succeeded in conserving resources, they also helped foster an uneasy atmosphere between payers and providers, many of whom felt that their clinical judgment was too often overruled by the "bean counters." At the same time, many healthcare consumers grew to distrust both managed care professionals and providers, feeling that medical decisions were often made for the wrong reasons. However, as managed care companies have acknowledged that the most efficient way to provide care is to provide appropriate care, the focus has begun to move toward the clinical side of healthcare. Although healthcare organizations are still relying on financial management tools, they are also looking for systems that can make the clinical decision-making process more efficient and effective. The end result is that the healthcare industry is able to assure the best, most appropriate treatment while conserving resources. With the constant stream of new technologies into the healthcare management arena, healthcare professionals will have access to new tools to make the management process even more efficient. The healthcare industry's technology paradox will soon be a thing of the past.