Using nursing clinical decision support systems to achieve meaningful use

The Health Information Technology and Clinical Health Act (one component of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act) is responsible for providing incentive payments to hospitals and eligible providers in an effort to support the adoption of electronic health records. Future penalties are planned for electronic health record noncompliance. In order to receive incentives and avoid penalties, hospitals and eligible providers must demonstrate "meaningful use" of their electronic health records. One of the meaningful-use objectives established by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services involves the use of a clinical decision support rule that addresses a hospital-defined, high-priority condition. This article describes the Plan-Do-Study-Act process for creating and implementing a nursing clinical decision support system designed to improve guideline adherence for hypoglycemia management. This project identifies hypoglycemia management as the high-priority area. However, other facilities with different high-priority conditions may find the process presented in this article useful for implementing additional clinical decision support rules geared toward improving outcomes and meeting federal mandates.