Spotlight On: Clinical Decision Support

Learn More about Clinical Decision Support Interventions

Clinical Decision Support (CDS) is a key functionality of health IT that contributes to improved quality of care and enhanced outcomes by avoiding errors and adverse events, improving efficiencies, reducing costs, and enhancing provider and patient satisfaction.

For the Medicare and Medicaid Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Programs in 2016, eligible professionals and eligible hospitals must meet the CDS objective by:

1. Implementing five CDS rules related to four or more clinical quality measures (CQMs) or related to a high-priority health condition for the EP, eligible hospital, or CAH's scope of practice or patient population.


2. Enabling and implementing functionality for drug-drug and drug-allergy interaction checks.

CMS Guidance for CDS Interventions
The CDS objective gives providers flexibility in the types of CDS interventions they employ, as well as the timing of the CDS.

Providers can customize the implementation of the CDS to their own needs for their clinical practice and patient population. The CDS should be implemented at a “relevant point in patient care,” which refers to a relevant point in clinical workflows when the intervention can influence clinical decision-making before diagnostic or treatment action is taken in response to the intervention.

Additionally, providers are not limited to just “pop-up” alert CDS interventions. They can meet the objective by using other methods of CDS, including, but not limited to:

• Computerized alerts and reminders for providers and patients


• Information displays or links


• Clinical guidelines


• Condition-specific order sets


• Focused patient data reports and summaries


• Documentation templates


• Diagnostic support


• Contextually relevant reference information

Note: These functionalities may be deployed on a variety of platforms (e.g., mobile, cloud-based, installed).

To Learn More
For more information on CDS, review the specification sheets for eligible professionals and eligible hospitals.