Health Information Technology

Clinical decision support systems are effective but research is needed to promote widespread use

Clinical decision support systems (CDSSs) are effective in improving health care process measures across diverse settings, concludes an AHRQ-funded study. However, it found limited evidence on the impact of CDSSs on clinical and economic outcome measures. The study furthers current knowledge by demonstrating the benefits of CDSSs outside of experienced academic centers. The authors call for more research to promote widespread use of CDSSs and to increase the clinical effectiveness of the systems. The study authors assessed health care process measures and clinical outcome measures associated with commercially and locally-developed CDSSs.

Their study expands on an evidence report from AHRQ, Enabling Health Care Decisionmaking through Health Information Technology (Health IT), which discusses features key to successful implementation of CDSSs.

For more details see, "Effect of Clinical Decision-support Systems: A Systematic Review," by T.J. Bright, A. Wong, R. Dhurjati, and others in the April 24, 2012, online issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine.

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