Implementing guidelines and protocols to reduce costs and preserve quality

Reducing the costs of overhead and of managing various disease processes is becoming increasingly important as physicians experience the transition from a fee-for-service to a managed care method of reimbursement. The challenge is to do this without sacrificing quality of care. The researchers implemented and tested protocols in their clinical practice to evaluate patients with prostate cancer; this effort resulted in achieving significant cost reductions while maintaining the quality of the care. The methods described for these protocols may be applied to any practice that places a priority on cost-effectiveness, without yielding to a compromise in quality.