Clinical Prediction Rules In EHRs Improve Care

By Katie Wike, contributing writer

Clinical prediction rules, when used with an EHR system, can improve quality, reduce overtreatment, and eliminate costs

A study published in JAMA Internal Medicine notes, “There is consensus that incorporating clinical decision support into electronic health records will improve quality of care, contain costs, and reduce overtreatment, but this potential has yet to be demonstrated in clinical trials.”

The authors conducted clinical trials to prove their point, stating their objective as assessing “the influence of a customized evidence-based clinical decision support tool on the management of respiratory tract infections and on the effectiveness of integrating evidence at the point of care.”

Fierce EMR reports that the researchers, a team from Mount Sinai School of Medicine, discovered “providers have yet to incorporate CPRs into their everyday care. The researchers developed a randomized clinical trial to determine if CPRs were effective in face-to-face primary care settings and have an impact on how doctors order tests and prescribe medications.”

Their study used the CPR rules for streptococcal pharyngitis and pneumonia. One group, the intervention group, used those CPR rules to aid in determining treatment. “The intervention group had access to the integrated clinical prediction rule tool and chose whether to complete risk score calculators, order medications, and generate progress notes to assist with complex decision making at the point of care.”

Researchers continued, “The intervention group completed the integrated clinical prediction rule tool in 57.5 percent of visits. Providers in the intervention group were significantly less likely to order antibiotics than the control group.”

“The integrated clinical prediction rule process for integrating complex evidence-based clinical decision report tools is of relevant importance for national initiatives, such as Meaningful Use.” concluded the team.