April 08, 2005
White Paper on Electronic Prescribing
The American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA) announced recently that its Board of Directors has approved the recommendations and action plan of a white paper entitled "Clinical Decision Support in Electronic Prescribing: Recommendations and an Action Plan." The report was developed by AMIA and the Joint Clinical Decision Support Workgroup of the Health Information Management Systems Society (HIMSS) at the request of the Office of the National Coordinator of Health Information Technology (ONCHIT) to help guide Federal Government activities concerning clinical decision support (CDS) in electronic prescribing. The report received financial support from the Agency for Healthcare Quality and Research (AHRQ) of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
Among the reports key findings:
Clinical decision support (CDS) in eRX can improve the safety, quality, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness of care.
To realize the full impact of CDS on health care, advances in the capabilities, usability and customizability of CDS systems, new mechanisms to provide access to current knowledge, accelerated implementation of standards and coding systems, and appropriate incentives for use are all required.
CDS impact increases as more types of data and workflow are combined together in a single system or set of interoperable systems. While benefits can be obtained from standalone eRX systems, progression to a more
comprehensive electronic health record is necessary to reap the full spectrum of benefits.
Recommendations address:
Features and elements needed for eRx systems to provide effective, high-value CDS with target implementation dates.
A listing of components that should be available in basic and advanced CDS systems for eRx in 2006 and 2008.
Standards and vocabularies that must be developed at a national level in order to efficiently support dissemination and sharing of CDS interventions, and to accelerate the movement of research findings into practice.
Initiatives and structures that could be developed at a national level in order to efficiently support dissemination and sharing of CDS interventions.
Incentives and protections that could be implemented to increase the adoption of effective CDS.
Clinical Decision Support in Electronic Prescribing: Recommendations and an Action Plan provides an overview of the current state of CDS-enabled eRx, describes barriers of adoption, and provides potential solutions to these
barriers. It also offers a set of next steps and actions for moving forward.
White paper:
Clinical Decision Support in Electronic Prescribing: Recommendations and an Action Plan (pdf)