Utilization management's role in ensuring standards of care is best described as:

Utilization management's role in ensuring standards of care is best described as:

• A. It relies solely on physician discretion without guidelines.
• B. It focuses only on reducing drug costs, not care quality.
• C. It ignores standards of care in decision making.
• D. It uses evidence-based guidelines to determine medical necessity and appropriate use of services.

Answer: (D)