Demand management: another marketing tool or a way to quality care?

Demand management tools are population-based strategies used to control costs and improve utilization of services by assisting health consumers in maintaining their health and seeking appropriate health care. These tools are increasingly used by health care delivery systems and, in the US, by fiscal intermediaries, such as insurance companies. If these tools are not properly applied, there is a clear possibility that their use may lead a reduction of health care services with no improvement in clinical, humanistic, or economic outcomes. Demand management effectiveness has not been rigorously examined by the medical industry or academia. Before adopting or purchasing demand management technologies, health care systems should examine them carefully to determine how the tools were developed and who they were intended to serve. Once implemented, careful tracking of population outcomes is as necessary with these technologies as with any other technologies that can affect health care.