Evaluating the impact of investing in the industry of clinical practice guidelines for health systems

Rationale: This review has been conducted to facilitate evidence-informed policymaking and help healthcare policymakers in Saudi Arabia decide whether or not a sustainable investment in the CPG industry is socially and economically viable. Objectives: To investigate whether the clinical practice guidelines help to improve clinical practice and save costs. Methods: A literature review to evaluate the benefits of implementing clinical practice guidelines. Results: The clinical practice guidelines help improve clinical practice, but the evidence about their impact on saving costs is insufficient in the literature. Conclusion: Investing in CPGs industry seems socially and economically viable as there are many benefits health-care regulators, providers, and payers might gain. The unified national CPGs would enable health-care regulators to optimise the quality of care services, including by protecting patient safety and preventing malpractice, and to reduce the number of medical errors. While updating national unified clinical guidelines would represent a trustworthy peer-reviewed approach to health care and offer providers a reference for best practices in health care customised to the local context. Also, having a national reference for standardised medical practices would help healthcare payers improve value-based payments.