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Clinical Practice Guidelines

Sanford Health Plan, Sanford Health Plan of Minnesota is responsible for adopting and distributing clinical practice guidelines for acute, chronic and behavioral health care services that are relevant to our membership. Clinical practice guidelines are systematically developed statements that help practitioners and members make decisions about appropriate health care for specific clinical circumstances. These guidelines can improve health care and reduce unnecessary variations in practice patterns. Practice guidelines are based on reasonable medical evidence, such as clinical literature and expert consensus. The Plan’s multi-specialty physician committee, the Physician Quality Committee, has reviewed and approved practice guidelines for numerous conditions. In August 2007, the Committee reviewed and adopted the ICSI (Institute for Clinical System Improvement) Guidelines for use as the Plan’s primary clinical practice guidelines. The following is a list of guidelines included in the adopted ICSI guidelines. Links to the complete guidelines are available on the ICSI website at http://www.icsi.org.

Asthma Healthy Pregnancy
Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Hypertension
Cancer Screening: Breast, Cervical, Colorectal         Low Back Pain
Cholesterol Management Menopause
Congestive Heart Failure Migraines/Headaches
COPD Obesity
Depression Osteoporosis
Diabetes   Tobacco Cessation
              

In cases where ICSI has not developed a guideline for a condition (e.g., Chemical Dependency, Type I Diabetes, Prostate Cancer Screening), the previously adopted guidelines were approved to remain in effect for these conditions. Links to these guidelines are available below.

If you have any questions or suggestions regarding these guidelines or would like to request a copy of the guidelines, please call the Health Plan at (800) 601-5086 or (605) 328-6877.


Guidelines for Conditions Not Addressed by ICSI

Diabetes – Type I
    Standards of Medical Care for Patients With Diabetes Mellitus. American Diabetes Association originally approved 1988. Most recent review/revision, January 2008 Volume 31, Supplement 1.

    View these guidelines on the American Diabetes Associations site http://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/vol31/Supplement_1/

Prostate Cancer Screening
    Smith RA, Cokkinides V, Eyre HJ. American Cancer Society guidelines for the early detection of cancer, 2006. CA Cancer J Clin. 2006;56:11-25.

    View these guidelines on the American Cancer Society’s CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians website at http://caonline.amcancersoc.org/cgi/reprint/56/1/11

Chemical Dependency Guidelines-Adult
    References for these guidelines include:

  • American Society of Addiction Medicine (1996). Patient Placement Criteria for the Treatment of Substance-Related Disorders, 2nd Edition (ASAM PPC-2). Chevy Chase, MD, ASAM.

  • Margaret D. Bischel, MD, Managed Behavioral Health Care Manual, Apollo Managed Care Consultants, 2001. · Chemical Dependency Physician input/review.


  • Management of Substance Use Disorder in the Primary Care Setting. Washington, DC: VA/DoD Evidence-Based Clinical Practice Guideline Working Group, Veterans Health Administration, Department of Veterans Affairs , and Health Affairs, Department of Defense, September 2001. Office of Quality and Performance publication 10Q-CPG/SUD-01

    View these guidelines on the VA website at http://www.oqp.med.va.gov/cpg/SUD/SUD_Base.htm