Electronic Health Records and Use of Clinical Decision Support

In 2009, the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act was signed into law. Along with this initiative came the push for meaningful use of the electronic health record. Clinicians, information technology professionals, and informaticists must partner to create evidence-based clinical decision support models to guide patient care using tools such as structured computerized physician order entry, order sets, templates, alerts, and reminders. Clinical decision support should be used to improve the quality of patient care and compliance with regulatory standards, while inherently following a provider's workflow.