Automated pathways to require more CM oversight
While no one is using a fully automated and integrated clinical pathway system yet, most experts say it’s only a matter of time before such systems become commonplace among case management departments. Some warn, however, that while automated pathways may ease some burdens, they’re likely to require a high level of oversight to make sure things run smoothly.
There’s no question that automated pathways will finally make data collection more efficient, says Patrice Spath, ART, a health care quality and resource management specialist with Brown-Spath and Associates in Forest Grove, OR. "Clinicians don’t have time to manually gather data unless it’s a component of their documentation system," she says. "Of course, if they’re documenting in a computer, they don’t have to manually gather it anymore."
Even so, Spath worries that too many case managers are expecting too much of automated pathways. "My biggest concern is that they’re hanging their hat on automation and saying that once we automate our pathways, everything will be fixed and everything will run smoothly," she says. "It almost seems that once something’s on a computer screen, we all believe that it’s accurate and we quit thinking."
The fact is, however, that human intervention and human oversight will become more important than ever. Spath notes, for example, that like clinical pathways themselves, automated systems tend to function best when everything’s proceeding according to plan. When unexpected events occur, human judgment will always be necessary. "When machines make errors, we don’t always notice their errors because we just assume they’re accurate," Spath says. "But the truth is, computers can’t think for us, and when pathway systems are automated, case managers will be needed more than ever before."
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