SCAMPs: A new tool for an old problem.

Standardized Clinical Assessment and Management Plans (SCAMPs) are tools to facilitate learning and discovery in a rapid iterative fashion. SCAMPs aim to reduce practice variation, improve patient outcomes, and identify unnecessary resource utilization. They are a quality improvement initiative that captures targeted data about clinical decision making. These data are then analyzed to change and improve the SCAMP algorithm itself. The purpose of this article is to describe the general SCAMPs methodology and to compare SCAMPs to traditional tools like clinical practice guidelines.