Two Perspectives of the Appropriate Use Criteria in Cardiology Practice: Advantageous and Useful or Limiting and Harmful?

Rev Cardiovasc Med. 2017;18(2):73-77. doi: 10.3909/ricm0884.

Abstract

The appropriate use criteria (AUC) has become an integral part of the cardiologist's daily practice and have evolved greatly since their inception over a decade ago. However, as health care costs continue to rise, the AUC has come to play an even more pivotal role in the way medicine-specifically cardiology-is practiced today. This editorial describes two opposing viewpoints commonly held by practicing clinicians of the AUC. Written from the perspective of two fellows-in-training looking ahead at the challenges and opportunities of clinical practice (under the auspices of several experienced clinicians and leaders of the American College of Cardiology), this article provides a fresh perspective on the impact AUC has on our patients, clinicians, and the health care system.

Publication types

  • Editorial

MeSH terms

  • Cardiology / economics
  • Cardiology / standards*
  • Clinical Decision-Making*
  • Cost Savings
  • Cost-Benefit Analysis
  • Guideline Adherence / economics
  • Guideline Adherence / standards*
  • Health Care Costs
  • Humans
  • Patient Safety / economics
  • Patient Safety / standards*
  • Practice Guidelines as Topic / standards*
  • Practice Patterns, Physicians' / economics
  • Practice Patterns, Physicians' / standards*
  • Risk Assessment
  • Unnecessary Procedures / standards