Advisory Board
July 2017
Imaging CDS: What you need to know from Medicare's most recent proposals

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"CMS recently released its proposed rule on the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS), which dictates clinician payments each year.

Some of the biggest news for radiology providers concerns the imaging clinical decision support (CDS) mandate, or Medicare Appropriate Use Criteria (AUC) program. Most notably, implementation of the program is delayed until 2019. We've analyzed the latest proposals and provided guidance for how programs can set themselves up for CDS success."

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Diagnostic and Interventional Cardiology
April 2017
CMS to Require Appropriate Use Criteria Documentation for Medical Imaging Orders

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"As part of U.S. healthcare reform efforts, starting Jan. 1, 2018, physicians will be required to document they are following appropriate use criteria (AUC) for outpatient medical imaging orders by using clinical decision support (CDS) software documentation. The software must be certified by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) in order to receive full reimbursement for diagnostic imaging services for Medicare and Medicaid patients. This will affect advanced outpatient imaging for computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and nuclear imaging (PET and SPECT)."

 

Clinical Excellence Commission, NSW Health
March 2017
Clinical Decision Support Trial in NSW (2016 - 2018)

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"The trial of a Clinical Decision Support (CDS) tool developed by Canadian company MedCurrent is underway at Liverpool and Royal North Shore hospitals and will run throughout 2016-18, with support from the CEC. The CDS tool is built into the CERNER platform and is combined with the UK Royal College of Radiologists’ evidence-based referral guidelines (iRefer) to address appropriate imaging for many patient presentations."

 

Canadian Healthcare Technology
February 2017
Canada trails US and other countries in decision support for diagnostic imaging
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"Appropriateness of diagnostic imaging is a complex issue that various Canadian medical groups are examining. Though no large-scale study exists, research suggests the number of inappropriate imaging referrals carried out in this country ranges from 2 percent to as high as 30 percent, depending on the type of test and jurisdiction. Removing even a small percentage of those exams is expected to deliver cost savings, improve patient safety and ensure that limited resources are put to the best use."

 

Canadian Healthcare Technology
February 2017
80 family physicians to participate in study of DI ordering patterns

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"St. Michael’s Hospital plans to install a clinical decision support system in the hospital’s family practice clinics to study how to improve the appropriateness of imaging tests ordered by physicians."

 

Aunt Minnie
December 2016
RCR partners with MedCurrent on clinical decision support

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"The U.K. Royal College of Radiologists (RCR) and clinical decision-support software developer MedCurrent have announced a series of pilot projects to incorporate the RCR's iRefer radiology referral guidelines into MedCurrent's clinical decision-support system."

 

HealthData Management
September 2016
Harvard offers digital repository of medical evidence to providers

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"Harvard Medical School has launched a free, publicly accessible digital repository of medical evidence to help clinicians practice evidence-based medicine in accordance with legislation that goes into effect in 2018.

The protecting Access to Medicare Act, signed into law in 2014, was slated to go into effect on Jan. 1,  2017, requiring healthcare providers to use approved clinical decision support systems to consult "appropriate use criteria" - developed or endorsed by national professional medical specialty societies or other provider-led entities - when ordering certain advanced medical imaging procedures. However, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has since decided to extend the deadline to Jan. 1, 2018."

 

Healthcare DIVE
September 2016
2 ways health IT is changing diabetes management

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"Not too far from IBM's and the ADA's combined efforts, Healthy Interactions partnered with MedCurrent in June to introduce a platform that merges clinical decision support with patient engagement technology. The companies aim to enact behavior change among diabetics through technology and sharing accountability. Improving patients’ self-management of their condition can help drive harder outcomes like better exercise behavior."

 

The PE Hub Network
July 2016
MedCurrent takes up to $2.8 mln from FedDev, angel investors

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"MedCurrent Corp, a Toronto-based provider of clinical decision support systems, has raised up to $2.8 million in funding. The Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario (FedDev Ontario) invested $800,000, with most the balance expected to come from undisclosed angel investors. The round’s proceeds will be used by MedCurrent to develop and market its technology, which enables physicians to determine the most appropriate imaging procedures for patients. The company has previously been backed  by BDC Capital and MaRS Investment Accelerator Fund."

 

Clinical Innovation+Technology
June 2016
Healthy Interactions, MedCurrent collaborate on new end-to-end CDS technology for chronic care

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"Two health IT companies, Chicago-based Healthy Interactions and Toronto-based MedCurrent, have launched a new end-to-end clinical decision support (CDS) platform designed to manage chronic care conditions."

 

Aunt Minnie
June 2016
How to evaluate, use imaging clinical decision support pdf version

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"Although recent research found that radiology clinical decision-support (CDS) software did not result in imaging orders being sent to other institutions, it's natural for hospitals to still be wary of annoying their referring physicians. Much can be done, though, to win clinician support and succeed with CDS."

 

Radiology Today
May 2016
Don't Put off CDS

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"In preparation for CDS, Stephen Herman, MD, founder and CMO of CDS system provider MedCurrent and thoracic radiologist at the University of Toronto, says hospitals and imaging centers should be asking themselves two questions: First, how will CDS change imaging volumes? Second, how will doctors interface with the new system? In answer to the first question, Herman says imaging providers should expect utilization changes."

 

Diagnostic Imaging
March 2016
Tools to Aid the Radiology Workflow

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"Within radiology, two areas where accuracy counts the most – outside of diagnosis – are physician ordering and finances. One tool from Toronto-based clinical decision support (CDS) vendor MedCurrent, called MedCurrent CDS, integrates these capabilities into existing EHRs."

 

Bloomberg BNA
February 2016
Software Companies Push FDA for Guidance on Decision Support Tools

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Herman, whose company develops software for radiology to reduce unnecessary imaging studies and minimize unnecessary radiation exposure, said the FDA has signaled it expects health software developers to use industry best practices for ensuring their product work as advertised. "CDS software is typically divided between tools that advise clinicians, which are considered low-risk to patient safety, and those which act directly on a medical device", Herman said.

 

Healthcare Informatics
January 2016
Implementing a Health System-Wide CDS System for Diagnostic Exam Ordering in Los Angeles

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"Radiology decision support is coming into its own within the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services (LADHS) health system, as Maitraya Patel, M.D., can attest. Dr. Patel, a practicing radiologist and the vice-chair of clinical operations in the Department of Radiology at Olive View-UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles, is helping to lead the staggered rollout of decision support across the health system’s hospitals. He and his colleagues are working with the Toronto-based MedCurrent Corporation."

 

Imaging Technology News
January 2016
Clinical Decision Support for Radiology

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"Clinical decision support (CDS) software has been discussed for years as a way to help clinicians follow best practice guidelines and to help eliminate unnecessary tests or procedures. However, implementing these systems has been slow, partly due to their cost and complexity and pushback from physicians. But, a new chapter is about to open for CDS as healthcare reform will soon require implementation of these systems."

 

Applied Radiology
January 2016
Preparing for the delayed - but still coming - PAMA mandate for radiology clinical decision support

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"It’s unfortunate, but not a major surprise, that the CMS recently postponed its PAMA mandate for hospitals and imaging centers stipulating that radiology clinical decision support (CDS) systems must be in place by Jan.1, 2017. Ideally, the new deadline will not extend into 2018.

This mandate is not the first to be delayed. Like Meaningful Use and ICD-10 before it, the radiology CDS mandate will come and radiology practices need to prepare for it—now."

 

Aunt Minnie
September 2014
MedCurrent awarded Los Angeles contract

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"LADHS is the second largest municipal health system in the U.S., operating four public hospitals, 16 local health clinics, and one multiservice ambulatory care center to provide services for more than 800,000 patients in the county, according to MedCurrent."