Clinical decision support (CDS) embedded directly into the patient's electronic medical record is associated with decreased overall utilization of high cost imaging, especially among higher utilizers. That is the main finding of a study published in the July 2017 issue of Academic Emergency Medicine (AEM), a journal of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine. The lead author is Kelly Bookman, MD, associate professor of emergency medicine and medical director for the Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Colorado School of Medicine. Dr. Bookman is nationally recognized for her work in operations, quality, patient safety, and clinical informatics. As the Senior Medical Director of Implementation and Informatics for UCHealth ED Service Line, Dr. Bookman is an integral part of the process improvement initiatives for the emergency department service line. She is also active in the optimization of the EHR for daily use as well as the development of clinical decision support embedded within the EHR. Dr. Bookman's new study suggests that integrating CDS into the provider workflow promotes usage of validated tools across providers, which can standardize the delivery of care and improve compliance with evidence-based guidelines. Dr. Bookman: "Getting CDS delivered at the right time to the right person seamlessly within their workflow is the key to driving compliance with standardized, evidence based, best practices." Source
