Netherlands-based company’s newest offering contains two interactive tools for physicians, to better understand variable medical conditions and lab test results support.Wolters Kluwer today announced the launch of UpToDate Advanced, a mobile-friendly physician tool that offers interactive guidance through clinical decision-making.

The new offering builds on medical information and images collected within the company’s longstanding clinical reference information product UpToDate, which is used by 1.5 million physicians annually, according to the company.

“Clinical care variation is widespread, expensive, and it compromises the quality of care. By addressing care variation, healthcare organizations have the opportunity to improve health outcomes at lower costs,” Dr. Peter Bonis, chief medical officer of clinical effectiveness at Wolters Kluwer, said in a statement. “With UpToDate Advanced, providers now have additional resources that can help curtail unwanted care variability with a patient-centered workflow that assists caregivers to optimize their decisions.”

[Also: Wolters Kluwer Health CEO: Value-based care an opportunity disguised as a challenge]

Wolters Kluwer’s newest offering contains two interactive tools for physicians, called Pathways and Lab Interpretation.

The former takes the shape of a flowchart that prompts users to consider their patient’s symptoms and health history to arrive at an appropriate clinical decision. These mostly target common, highly variable medical conditions that are frequently among the top searches on the standard UpToDate, with decision recommendations based on the graded options already available in the reference tool. The tool also allows physicians to review their decision-making process at any time and surfaces drug information from Lexicomp as the user is looking over medication prescription options.

The Lab Interpretation feature looks to help physicians better understand unusual or challenging tests results their patients may receive. The tool displays a number of conditions or circumstances that may have led to a certain result and, similar to Pathways, provides guidance on immediate action or if additional testing may be necessary.

“As an organization, reducing variations in the care we provide is essential to our efforts to improve patient safety, clinical outcomes and patient satisfaction,” Dr. Keith Griffin, chief medical information officer for Novant Medical Group, which has been beta testing the tool, said in a statement from Wolters Kluwer. “Today, we contend with conditions with increasingly complicated patient management options, such as diabetes and atrial fibrillation. UpToDate Advanced guides our physicians to the most appropriate clinical decisions for each patient.”

Wolters Kluwer will be demonstrating UpToDate Advanced next week at HIMSS 2018 in Las Vegas.

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Email the writer: dave.muoio@himssmedia.com