In a highly competitive managed care environment, cost and quality must be controlled and demonstrated by healthcare organizations to maintain market share. Critical care is one of the most expensive services for a healthcare organization, with relatively little organized clinical data to demonstrate outcomes and identify opportunities for improvement. quality assurance and utilization monitoring activities are essential due to high cost of intensive care. The purpose of this pilot study was to evaluate the feasibility of the methodology and impact of providing selected real time information abstracted from the medical record with severity of illness, scores on resource utilization and outcomes in an ICU.