Dive Brief:
- Use of computerized clinical decision support systems (CCDSS) can help to prevent blood clots in surgical patients, a new study published online by JAMA Surgery suggests.
- Researchers at New York University School of Medicine did a review and meta-analysis of 11 articles to evaluate CCDSS’ effect on adherence to guidelines for venous thromboembolism (VTE) prophylaxis and incidence of VTEs following surgery.
- CCDSS significantly increased the rate of appropriate ordering of VTE prophylaxis and significantly reduced VTE risk, the study says.
Dive Insight:
As EHR systems evolve, providers are looking for more advanced capabilities like enhanced clinical decision support and remote monitoring. “The whole area of proactive care intervention is really exciting and can have a meaningful impact in the population,” Kyle Armbrester, chief product officer at athenahealth, told Healthcare Dive.
CCDSS can be integrated into a patient’s electronic health record system (EHR) and provide evidence-based knowledge to inform treatment, the authors say, noting providers on their own don’t always do a good job of stratifying risk for blood clots and prescribing prophylaxis to surgery patients.
“We should not ignore the strength of computer science in medicines,” the study authors write. “The successful implementation of a CCDSS and physician acceptance depend on further trials that lend support to the efficacy of CCDSSs, their cost utility, their user acceptability, and, most important, their ability to change patient outcomes.”
CCDSS and other types of cognitive computing can help to streamline diagnoses and fine tune treatments by culling through reams of data and pinpointing specific diseases, symptoms or other patient data. In an age of value-based care, they offer ways to increase efficiencies and improve outcomes.
Hospitals and health systems are seeing the benefits and promise of artificial intelligence to improve care quality and reduce costs and investing in it. Last month, the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center teamed up with Microsoft to launch the first project under their Healthcare NExt initiative focused on improving clinicians’ workflows.