The program involved employing a clinical decision support tool to block duplicate test orders during the computerized physician order entry process each day. Laboratory cost savings were assessed after two years.
The tool blocked 11,790 unnecessary duplicate test orders in two years, resulting in a cost savings of $183,586.
“We provided a ‘hard stop,’ meaning the system won’t allow doctors to order the duplicate tests, and even more importantly, the program provides the result of the test that had been previously ordered,” said Gary W. Procop, MD, author of the study, a pathologist and medical director of enterprise test utilization and consultation services at Cleveland Clinic.
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