A set of preliminary standards recommended for achieving a national repository of clinical decision support interventions.

We are investigating the development, implementation and evaluation of clinical decision support (CDS) projects to advance our understanding of how best to incorporate these interventions into the delivery of healthcare. Our overall goal is to explore how the translation of clinical knowledge into CDS and its incorporation into practice can be routinely achieved to improve the quality of healthcare delivered in the U.S.A. Toward this end, we have developed a 7-step model that provides a framework for clinical decision support-related standards that are necessary if we wish to achieve these goals. We believe that if all commercially available EHR systems had the features and functions described in these recommendations, many more healthcare organizations could begin to develop and implement the basic CDS features that are necessary to radically transform the quality, safety, and cost of the current healthcare system.