Health care organizations see the implementation of clinical decision support tools as a top priority over the next 12 months, according to a report by Black Book Rankings, Healthcare IT News reports (McCann, Healthcare IT News, 8/1).
For the report, Black Book Rankings surveyed 1,340 clinical and IT leaders from hospitals, accountable care organizations, managed care organizations, pharmaceutical manufacturers and physician practices nationwide in Q2 2012 (Black Book Rankings release, 8/1).
Plans to Deploy Clinical Decision Support Systems
The report found that 84% of the surveyed organizations without a clinical decision support system said that they plan to deploy at least one new or additional clinical analytics tool within the next year (Healthcare IT News, 8/1).
Of the respondents who plan to acquire a clinical decision support system, 89% said that they plan to hire more IT workers. However, most organizations said they expect to face a shortage of qualified candidates for the roles (Bowman, FierceHealthIT, 8/1).
Leaders from all 87 developing ACOs surveyed for the report said that their organization will need to adopt and properly use clinical decision support tools before launching their ACO operations.
Organizations With Clinical Decision Support Systems
Of the hospitals surveyed for the report:
- 89% have used clinical decision support tools to prevent medication errors;
- 77% have used the tools to achieve costs savings; and
- 69% have used the tools to achieve improvements in population health.
Of the health care providers who have clinical decision support systems in place, 75% said that adjusting clinical workflows and implementing new technology would be challenging for their organization (Healthcare IT News, 8/1).