These days, much of the health IT community is talking about clinical decision support systems. Some say that these tools are the key component to unlocking the main benefits of electronic health records. By giving doctors greater access to the latest evidence-based practices and allowing them to run their orders through these first, they may help limit unnecessary procedures and potentially harmful treatments.
These benefits could go a long way toward bringing down the cost of care while increasing patient safety and satisfaction. For these reasons, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT has hinted that clinical decision support, or CDS, will play a major role in the next stages of meaningful use.
David Collins, director of healthcare information systems at HIMSS, told CMIO Magazine that these types of benefits are what everyone has in mind when they talk about electronic health records. Therefore, it makes sense that they should play a large role in future iterations of meaningful use.
"CDS is a key component to the real value that you can get out of these systems, whether it be CPOE or any process. That all ultimately does tie back to the safety of medication ordering, or procedures or reminders," he told the news source. "It's more than just research articles; it's stuff that you can use and apply. CDS is such a core element of a successful use of EHR and other affiliated health IT."
He added that, given the fact that government officials have said that CDS may play a large role in the future meaningful use rules, healthcare providers may need more training on how to use these systems sometime in the near future.
This will be important, as the concept is unlikely to go anywhere anytime soon. Evidence has shown that CDS systems play a large role in reducing wasteful spending, which is such a hot topic in healthcare policy today.
For example, a recent study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that medical imaging rates dropped significantly at one healthcare facility after installing a CDS system, according to American Medical News.
The study showed that MRI and CT scans for lower back pain, headaches and sinus infections dropped by anywhere from 23 to 26 percent, resulting in significant savings.
The researchers told the news source that their study clearly shows the ability of CDS systems to help control healthcare costs while improving quality and patient satisfaction.