Duke and McKesson, an information technology company offering healthcare services, have formed a strategic relationship wherein Duke will contribute evidence-based clinical content, documented processes for best practices and transferable knowledge for use with McKesson’s solution.
With Horizon Expert Orders, McKesson’s clinical decision support and computerized physician order entry (CDS/CPOE) system aims to add value to daily clinical decision making at the point of care. It provides clinicians with advanced decision support in the form of adaptive order sets and treatment guidelines based on the role of the clinician, the patient’s condition, and evidence-based clinical knowledge.
Physician use of Horizon Expert Orders at Duke began in September 2004 and extended to the Heart Center by November. Once rollout is complete this summer, Horizon Expert Orders will become the baseline technology used for hospital-wide decision support at the point of care. Duke also uses McKesson’s automated robot and pharmacy information system to support its medication safety programs across the hospital.
Asif Ahmad, Duke’s vice president and chief information officer, said: We’ve taken a very different approach to electronic decision support – the solution works the way physicians think and function, it’s quick and easy to learn, and the evidence-based clinical content delivers value that makes physicians want to use it.
Under the agreement, Duke will provide clinical content with supporting citations for use in clinical decision support. It will also make its methodology for accelerated implementation processes available for use by other McKesson customers. In addition, Duke’s clinical content will become part of McKesson’s Horizon Knowledge Center, a library of content from commercial sources and other healthcare providers.
