Clinical decision support systems are poised to become the user interface of choice for clinical interactions with health IT, ultimately supplanting the electronic health record system as the primary health IT point of interface for clinicians, research and consulting firm Frost & Sullivan contends in a new report.

WHAT HAPPENED

Today, Frost & Sullivan released the new report, entitled “U.S. Clinical Decision Support Systems Market, Forecast to 2024.”

The report analyzes the latest trends affecting the clinical decision support systems space. It forecasts market growth in clinical knowledge and medical evidence, healthcare analytics, workflow solutions, EHRs, medical devices, data support, clinical surveillance, and clinical decision support platforms. It also studies the impact of changes in regulation and technologies on the market outlook.

According to the report, as decision support becomes a critical component of both healthcare delivery as well as regulatory compliance, the decision support systems market is forecast to grow from $3.79 billion in 2018 to $6.4 billion in 2024, at a compound annual growth rate of 9.3%.

WHY IT MATTERS

Over the forecast period, clinical decision support systems are expected to find substantial adoption in the area of patient surveillance and as an essential interface between EHR complexity and the clinical workflow, Frost & Sullivan said.

"The trend towards more regulatory oversight and the adoption of new information technology will further drive the need for clinical decision support."

Mike Jude, Frost & Sullivan

According to the new report, there are other significant growth opportunities in:

• Making systems interoperable; hospital administrators should push aggressively for this to happen.
• Extending services to cover population health to improve patient outcomes and augment the role of clinical data in driving success.
• Studying results of in-place clinical surveillance systems and evaluating the potential to create measurable value propositions.
• Using automation to communicate directly with the patient and EHR for important, but not critical, actions.
• Ensuring that patient portals or text-based systems are optimized according to the need of the patients.

ON THE RECORD

“With the delivery of healthcare becoming more complex, there is an urgent need for a superior user interface, both to reduce the load on the physician, as well as ensure that the physician is informed of the latest treatment options and protocols,” said Mike Jude, research manager, digital health, at Frost & Sullivan. “The trend towards more regulatory oversight and the adoption of new information technology will further drive the need for clinical decision support.”

“Clinical decision support systems have been heavily impacted by the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) and, more recently, the Health and Human Services requirements for interoperability and patient empowerment,” Jude added. “These regulatory requirements encourage EHR vendors to either include clinical decision support data within the properties of the electronic record or offer ways for users to link-out to clinical decision support sources or workflow capabilities.”

Twitter: @SiwickiHealthIT
Email the writer: bill.siwicki@himssmedia.com
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