National Decision Support Company (NDSC) today announced that more than 60 healthcare organizations—including Rockford Health System, Mercy Health, and Essentia Health—have adopted ACR Select, the digital form of Appropriate Use Criteria (AUC) from the American College of Radiology (ACR), for use with their Epic electronic health record (EHR) software to improve the delivery of imaging services.
This client base growth comes just a few months after NDSC announced the availability of ACR Select integrated into the Epic workflow. The company’s technology not only allows the seamless delivery of AUC directly in the physician’s EHR workflow, but also lets organizations evaluate and benchmark physician content interactions, provides educational insights, and helps manage towards optimal clinical outcomes through the use of national standard guidelines.
“Our EHR partners continue to listen to the provider community and enhance the ability to present national standard AUC as an integral part of their workflows,” said Michael Mardini, CEO of NDSC.
The integration with Epic promotes NDSC’s philosophy that AUC should be a natural extension of the physician workflow. ACR Select delivers evidence-based guidance without extra clicks or keystrokes and offers non-punitive educational feedback in the process. “The ease in which providers can now implement and deliver clinical content into physician workflows is fueling ACR Select’s rapid adoption,” said Mardini.
“A lot of thought and careful planning has gone into optimizing the implementation of the ACR Select decision support tool at Rockford Health System,” said Dr. Christopher Vittore, Radiologist, Rockford Health System. “I foresee the program providing useful information in a concise format for ordering clinicians as they plan for the best care for their patients.”
NDSC has also recently announced the incorporation of new content sources to expand the company’s imaging AUC portfolio. In addition to new content sources, clients can customize the AUC to meet local and organizational requirements and analyze the impact that specific criteria have on the overall care process. Further, NDSC is expanding its content community to incorporate AUC from other clinical domains to broaden the coverage and reach of these physician-centric workflows.
“We’ve seen incredible interest and uptake of our solution at all levels,” explained Mardini. “Driving towards more appropriate medical testing enables improved health care services and patient outcomes and we are proud to be leading the transformation towards value-based care.”
NDSC will be demonstrating its latest developments, including integrations with leading EHRs, at HIMSS 2015, booth #7419, April 13 – 15, 2015, Chicago, IL.
About National Decision Support Company
National Decision Support Company (NDSC) provides integrated solutions for developing, maintaining, accessing, delivering, and analyzing actionable, standards-based Appropriate Use Criteria (AUC) for imaging, lab, and care pathways. The company partners with healthcare provider organizations and national medical societies—including American College of Radiology (ACR), American College of Cardiology (ACC), and European Society of Radiology (ESR)—to structure content and deliver it through physician-centric workflows. NDSC’s clinical solution set provides physicians access to the latest evidence-based approaches to medicine, allows providers to develop and deliver local care pathways and protocols, and lets healthcare organizations continuously analyze the impact that AUC has on care delivery without disrupting the doctor-patient relationship. For more information, visit www.NationalDecisionSupport.com.
About ACR Select
ACR Select, National Decision Support Company’s (NDSC) foundational solution, was launched in 2012 under a collaboration with the American College of Radiology (ACR) to deliver a complete web service version of ACR Appropriateness Criteria® (AC). ACR AC is a comprehensive national standards clinical decision support database that provides evidence-based decision support for the appropriate utilization of all medical imaging procedures. More than 300 volunteer physicians, representing more than 20 radiology and non-radiology specialty organizations, participate on the ACR AC expert panels, continuously updating these nationally transparent guidelines, and providing real-time access to the latest medical imaging decision support. NDSC delivers ACR Select through computerized ordering and electronic health record (EHR) systems so healthcare organizations can effortlessly consume Appropriate Use Criteria (AUC) and ensure that the right patient gets the right scan for the right indication. For more information, visit www.ACRselect.org.
