Clinical Decision Support Enabled Performance Improvement: Radiology as an Example

I am practicing radiologist and researcher. I completed diagnostic radiology residency followed by an abdominal imaging and interventional fellowship at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH), Harvard Medical School in Boston in 1995. In addition to my clinical training, my research training focused on clinical effectiveness and healthcare policy and management. I have served as Vice Chair for Radiology since 2002, direct quality, safety and information technology (IT) programs for medical imaging, and serve as Distinguished Chair for Medical Informatics at BWH. As co-founder and Director of the Center for Evidence-Based Imaging, my research focuses on improving quality, safety, and efficiency of care in the imaging domain using IT, knowledge management, process redesign and change management tools and strategies.

Learning Objectives

• Assess impact of imaging clinical decision support on improving quality and reducing waste
• Examine features of effective imaging clinical decision support programs using experience from large-scale implementations
• Evaluate components of clinical decision support in the context of new federal regulations

Abstract:

Substantial concern about inappropriate use of imaging has led to recent federal regulations mandating the use of Clinical Decision Support (CDS) to improve quality of care and reduce waste. Using a case example, I will review the impact of large-scale CDS-enabled performance improvement initiatives on adoption of evidence into practice and describe features of effective imaging CDS programs in the context of new federal regulations.