Choosing the Right Path: Growing a Clinical Pathways Program

This presentation outlines how a large health system successfully built and scaled a clinical pathways program to improve quality, reduce variation, and close the gap between evidence and practice. It highlights the foundational role of interdisciplinary teams, structured processes, and continuous measurement, along with the operational infrastructure needed to sustain growth. Through real-world examples, it demonstrates how standardized pathways, thoughtful prioritization, and ongoing review can drive meaningful improvements in outcomes, efficiency, and care delivery across diverse clinical settings.

Learning Objectives:

• Outline the critical infrastructure required to support and sustain a successful pathways program.
• Examine tools and methods to guide prioritization of pathway development, updates, and retirement.
• Illustrate strategies for conducting systematic reviews of clinical pathways and decision support resources.

Rebecca Kasper, MSN, RN, CPN

Clinical Pathways Program Manager, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP)

Pathways4Kids 2026 Conference Committee

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Rebecca Kasper, MSN, RN, CPN, is the Clinical Pathways Program Manager at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), where she leads the Clinical Pathways team responsible for managing a library of nearly 200 clinical pathways across primary care, emergency, inpatient, and ICU settings. She partners with multidisciplinary clinical and analytics teams to embed evidence and local expertise into care delivery, reduce unwarranted variation, and drive continuous learning through data-informed improvement. Rebecca brings more than a decade of pediatric nursing and leadership experience and holds a Master of Science in Nursing in Healthcare Administration from Villanova University.

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Brandon Ku, MD

Director of Quality in the Division of Emergency Medicine, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP)

Associate Professor of Clinical Pediatrics at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania

Dr. Ku is an Associate Professor of Clinical Pediatrics at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and an Attending Physician and the Director of Quality in the Division of Emergency Medicine at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. He serves as the Associate Medical Director of the Clinical Pathways Program within the Center for Healthcare Quality and Analytics. He contributes to the continued growth of the Clinical Pathways Program through the creation and review of pathways, developing clinical decision support tools for successful implementation, and partners with our data team to document improvement and share successes.

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Jane Lavelle, MD

Director of the Pathways Program, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP)

Dr. Lavelle has enjoyed working in the Emergency Department at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia alongside a dedicated, smart, creative multidisciplinary team to provide the best care possible to children and families with kindness and compassion. In her journey she served as Senior Medical Director and Associate Division Chief of Emergency Medicine, Director of Education and Director of Quality. In 2017, she became Director of the Pathways Program. She is really excited to be here today and looks forward to learning lots from all of you!

Slides

© 2026 Individual Authors, Participating Institutions, and Pathways4Kids, Inc.
Shared for educational purposes with attribution required. All rights reserved.