practitioner and patient decisions regarding appropriate health care in specific clinical circumstances". Their goal is to "make explicit recommendations with the specific intention of influencing what practitioners do clinicians". Furthermore, the guidelines play an important role in the standardization of care and the development of health policies such as health promotion, screening, etc. Due to the recent financial crisis, Cyprus has sought to reduce costs and maintain or even improve the quality of care, which is why a series of tools was used to achieve this, including the development, implementation and monitoring of clinical guidelines, the implementation of clinical governance and clinical audit, the implementation of diagnosis-related groups (DRG), the restructuring of public hospitals and the reform of the health system by introducing universal coverage and with the concept of a guardian general practitioner/family doctor being the cornerstone of the reform. Interestingly, primary care will be provided through 3 different specialties, namely general practitioners, pediatricians, obstetricians and gynecologists. Clinical guidelines and chronic disease management programs will be an integral part of reformed primary care in Cyprus. We will describe the policy, process and methods of preparation and implementation of clinical guidelines in primary care in Cyprus. Methods Developing a local guideline by a group of local stakeholders provides 'sense of ownership' – a factor believed to be associated with an increased likelihood that the guideline will actually be adopted. Producing a clinically valid and usable guideline is a labor and resource-intensive process. This also takes time. There are advantages to adopting an existing guideline, namely that it removes...... middle of paper ...... electronic educational platform.8. Monitoring. Effective clinical auditing and providing constructive/balanced feedback to providers is essential. A comprehensive clinical audit policy for the guidelines is being finalized. We plan to publish all results of the quality indicators of the selected guidelines online. Conclusions The Cypriot healthcare system is under enormous pressure to reduce costs due to the financial crisis. The universal introduction of clinical guidelines at all levels of care and particularly in primary care can be an important evidence-based tool to promote efficiency savings without diminishing the quality of care. Successful implementation of the guidelines in a previously naive environment will heavily depend on the process of high-quality adaptation of existing guidelines and appropriate change management policy.