Health Information Management

CMS issues new guidance for clinical decision support interventions

HIM-HIPAA Insider, July 28, 2014

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by Jaclyn Fitzgerald, Editor

CMS recently issued new FAQ guidance about which interventions EHRs must trigger to meet the criteria for Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Program’s clinical decision support (CDS) objective. Eligible professionals and hospitals must implement one CDS rule to attest to Stage 1 of meaningful use and must implement five CDS interventions in addition to drug-drug and drug-allergy interaction functionality to attest to Stage 2, according to the CMS website.

CDS is not merely an EHR alert or notification, but a tool that organizations should use to help improve patient care and efficiency, avoid errors and adverse events, and enhance provider/patient satisfaction, according to CMS. CMS encouraged organizations to meet the meaningful use requirements for this objective by exploring various types of CDS, including:

  • Clinical guidelines
  • Condition-specific order sets
  • Focused patient data reports and summaries
  • Documentation templates
  • Diagnostic support
  • Contextually-relevant reference information
CDS is not only useful for providers but can also help support staff, patients, and other caregivers both in and outside of the examination or treatment setting, CMS added.
 
Click here for more information about CMS’ EHR Incentive Programs.

 



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