This document may also serve as the basis for adaptation by local, regional, or national guideline panels. Description of the health problem(s) Optimal use of anticoagulant drugs for treatment of VTE requires a comprehensive approach to patient management.13 Bleeding and therapeutic failure are common and serious complications of administering anticoagulant drugs.14-16 Methods The guideline panel developed and graded the recommenda- tions and assessed the certainty in the supporting evidence following the GRADE approach.6-12 The overall guideline devel- opment process, including funding of the work, panel forma- tion, management of conflicts of interest, internal and external review, and organizational approval, was guided by ASH policies and procedures derived from the Guidelines International Network McMaster Guideline Development Checklist (http:// cebgrade.mcmaster.ca/guidecheck.html) and was intended to meet recommendations for trustworthy guidelines by the In- stitute of Medicine and the Guidelines International Network.2-5 An article detailing the methods used to develop these guidelines is forthcoming. Organization, panel composition, planning, and coordination The work of this panel was coordinated with that of 9 other guideline panels (addressing other aspects of VTE) by ASH and the McMaster GRADE Centre (funded by ASH under a paid agreement). Project oversight was provided initially by a coordination panel, which reported to the ASH Committee on Quality, and then by the coordination panel chair (Adam Cuker) and vice chair (Holger J. Schu nemann). ASH vetted and appointed individuals to the guideline panel. The McMaster GRADE Centre vetted and retained researchers to conduct systematic reviews of evidence and coordinate the guideline development pro- cess, including the use of the GRADE approach. The member- ship of the panel and the GRADE center team is described in supplement 1. 