An experience of utilization review in Europe: sequel to a BIOMED project

Abstract

Development of utilization review in Europe has been carried out mostly on a voluntary basis and the main objective was not control. The experience varies widely: from France, where utilization review is still developing and research has been implemented by local teams, to Portugal, where utilization review programmes have been initiated by government authorities. At this point different initiatives in quality improvement, and more specifically in utilization review, are being developed within the European context.

Overuse of mammography during the first round of an organized breast cancer screening programme

“…Despite a considerable literature on unnecessary utilization of health services [8–10], little is known about mammography overuse in contexts where an organized programme of breast cancer screening is in place. In Geneva the programme of mammography screening was successful in attracting women who typically have poor access to opportunistic screening [6], but it failed to recruit unscreened women efficiently [6], and did not eliminate overuse of non‐programme mammography.…”

Effectiveness of a physician-oriented feedback intervention on inappropriate hospital stays

“…16 occupancy rate of approximately 95% (data referring to the year before the intervention). The study's field work was done between May and June 2000, in three different phases: a basal period of one week (May [8][9][10][11][12][13][14], the intervention period of two weeks (May 22-June 4) and, after a two-week hiatus, the postintervention period (June 19-25).…”

Liability and validity of the Appropriateness Evaluation Protocol in Turkey

“…The Appropriateness Evaluation Protocol (AEP) During the last reform studies, a 'National Health Policy' document was produced for presentation to the Turkish has gained widespread acceptance in performance of utilization review in the USA [4], and more recently, in many Grand National Assembly. In this document, a financing European countries [5][6][7]. It was shown to be reliable and made by clinicians using expert judgement [13]) the assessments of the nurses based on the AEP were compared valid in the USA context [8][9][10].…”