SEATTLE, Mar. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- MCG Health, part of the Hearst Health network and an industry leader in technology-enabled, evidence-based guidance, announces the official release of its 25th edition of the MCG care guidelines. Many of this year's updates were designed to help clinicians address the challenges of providing equitable healthcare and manage persistent high volumes of COVID-19 patients.
Since their inception in 1988, MCG care guidelines have seen rapid adoption among hospitals, health plans, government entities, and other stakeholders in the healthcare community. Through an annual review process, MCG clinical editors and actuaries perform comprehensive reviews of the latest published research and claims analytics. Using a strict, quality control methodology, these teams develop evidence-based guidelines, plans of care, and utilization benchmarks. For the 25th edition, MCG physician and nurse editors reviewed 174,853 scientific articles which led to a total of 47,469 unique citations. Over 6,200 of these citations represent new evidence within the MCG care guidelines.
With many major health systems focused on programs that address patient needs such as housing, food security, and access to transportation (also known as social determinants of health), MCG is helping clinicians proactively identify these factors. In the 25th edition, MCG Inpatient & Surgical Care and Behavioral Health Care feature new assessments that help screen patients at higher risk for an unmet, health-related social need. This information can help clinicians and case managers activate other resources in the community to support a patient and their family. The assessments are available in all inpatient guidelines as well as each level of care guideline for behavioral health.
Regarding the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, MCG previously released new Acute Viral Illness guidelines in mid-2020 to help healthcare professionals effectively manage patients through the pandemic. Management of inpatient length of stay is crucial when hospital volumes are high so that limited resources can be focused on those patients who need them the most. These guidelines and associated benchmark information have been subsequently updated and incorporated into the 25th edition of MCG Inpatient & Surgical Care, Recovery Facility Care, and Home Care.
With the advent of the 25th edition, MCG's embedded software solution, Informed by MCG, which is leveraged by several of MCG's strategic alliance partners, can now integrate MCG Medicare Compliance content.
Of the 25th edition, MCG President and CEO, Jon Shreve, says, "Over the past year, we have seen a level of courage and selflessness from healthcare professionals that inspired everyone here at MCG. We must understand that how care is delivered is critical, and using vetted, scientific evidence as our true north can do what's best for the patient and help overcome healthcare inequity."
MCG Health will soon be the last independent and nationally recognized guideline publisher of its kind in the U.S., once pending acquisitions of other guideline developers are complete later in 2021. Since MCG is independently owned by the Hearst Corporation, MCG Health can pursue an unbiased, evidence-based approach that does not favor either payers or providers as they strive to deliver optimal healthcare to patients. Currently, MCG care guidelines are licensed by nine of the largest U.S. health plans and over 2,200 hospitals, making them a rare common ground between the payer and provider communities.
On March 18, 2021, MCG will offer a free webinar to all MCG clients who wish to learn more about the changes in the 25th edition. Interested participants can learn more and sign up here: https://info.mcg.com/webinar-whats-new-25th-edition.html
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About MCG Health
MCG, part of the Hearst Health network, helps healthcare organizations implement informed care strategies that proactively and efficiently move people toward health. MCG's transparent assessment of the latest research and scholarly articles, along with our own data analysis, gives patients, providers, and payers the vetted information they need to feel confident in every care decision, in every moment. For more information visit http://www.mcg.com or follow our Twitter handle at @MCG_Health.
About Hearst Health
The mission of Hearst Health 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 Hearst Health reaches 85 percent of discharged patients, 205 million insured individuals, 103 million home health visits and 3.2 billion dispensed prescriptions. The Hearst Health network includes FDB (First Databank), Zynx Health, MCG, Homecare Homebase and MHK (formerly MedHOK). Hearst also holds a minority interest in the precision medicine and oncology analytics company M2Gen. Follow Hearst Health on Twitter @HearstHealth and LinkedIn @Hearst-Health.
Media Contact
Arri Burgess, MCG Health, 2063895405, [email protected]
SOURCE MCG Health
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