Clinical database repository--a solution for outcomes assessment

This paper describes how implementation of a Clinical Database Repository (CDR) presents health care organizations with a tool to respond actively to quality and cost demands of the current delivery setting. The CDR is an innovative technological solution to integrate unlimited laboratory data with data from other systems, thereby expanding the contribution of routinely collected laboratory data to broader outcomes assessment goals of an organization. The technical components of a CDR, implementation methods, and deployment benefits to an organization are discussed. The resulting outcomes assessment from this tool will enable an organization to positively and cost-effectively influence how care is provided through system rules validation, measuring benefits of new technology, reducing unwarranted practice pattern variation, and validating practice guidelines. Although the value of systems such as CDR has been documented, their full potential for outcomes assessment has yet to be explored.