LOS ANGELES, April 22, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- SCL Health System, a faith-based, nonprofit health care organization, announced today an agreement to implement Stanson Health's next-generation clinical decision support (CDS) system. Stanson's CDS solutions are designed to safely reduce the cost and potential for harm from unnecessary care, by providing user-friendly, real-time alerts and analytics to help guide physicians' decisions.

Stanson Health is a next generation population health clinical decision support and analytics company.  Stanson provides previously tested and validated clinical decision support alerts, which reduce the potential for "false-positive" alerts that can cause alert fatigue.    The alerts are designed to reduce unnecessary care for populations of patients, including care for in physician offices, Emergency Departments, and hospitals.  The clinical decision support recommendations are based on guidelines that are widely accepted by physicians and other health care providers, such as "Choosing Wisely®" recommendations from the American Board of Internal Medicine.   The analytics solution provides comparative information on physician acceptance of clinical decision support recommendations and provides utilization data that inform discussions about high quality and cost-effective care.    For example, a physician can compare how often he or she accepts and rejects Choosing Wisely® guidelines related to performing MRI with non-specific lower back pain with other physicians.   This information can be very useful as physician organizations prepare for payment reform.

Scott Weingarten, MD, Chairman of the Board of Stanson Health, said, "With the recent changes in the health care and the emergence of population health, new forms of clinical decision support are needed.  The clinical decision support should be integrated into the workflow, personalized for each patient, and proven to reduce costs and improve quality.   Moreover, care is more likely to improve if there is both clinical decision support and comparative analytics for physicians to understand how they compare with their colleagues in their acceptance of clinical decision support recommendations."

Stanson Health's system targets the significant opportunity to reduce costs by providing physicians with CDS aimed at reducing or eliminating unnecessary care. Evidence-based, physician-designed logic drives Stanson alerts, ensuring that an alert will only fire when the patient meets a specific profile and will offer recommendations relevant to the physician's decision. Physicians do not need to alter their workflow to access pertinent recommendations because the system ensures that the alert will fire only when appropriate.

"Having evidence-based CDS integrated into the electronic health record helps promote high value care and eliminate unnecessary and often costly tests and procedures by alerting physicians at the time and place decisions are made" said Jennie Dulac, RN, MS, SCL Health System Vice President, Clinical Quality Improvement. "Our industry is changing from a billing-by-volume system to one that rewards high quality care. To adapt in this transforming environment, we engage with our physicians as leaders in this changing delivery system. By positioning our physicians as "co-dependent equals," it allows us to ensure that those on the front lines of care delivery stay connected and assist in the transition to accountable care."

About SCL Health System

SCL Health System is a faith-based, nonprofit health care organization that operates eight hospitals, four safety net clinics, one children's mental health center and more than 190 ambulatory service centers in three states — Colorado, Kansas and Montana. Our $2.2 billion health network is dedicated to improving the health of the communities and individuals it serves, especially those who are poor and vulnerable. Each year, SCL Health provides more than $250 million in community benefit, including services for the poor, health screenings, educational programs, community donations and research. SCL Health was founded by the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth, who opened their first hospital in 1864. To learn more, visit www.sclhealthsystem.org.

About Stanson Health

Headquartered in Los Angeles, CA, Stanson Health LLC is leading the way in the development of the next generation CDS solutions. Stanson provides integrated real time alerts optimized for use in the physician's clinical workflow. Combined with relevant analytics, Stanson solutions safely guide physician's decisions toward the elimination of unnecessary or inappropriate care and helps improve the quality of care. Health care systems and organizations preparing for payment reform and population health recognize that Stanson Health solutions deliver the most effective cost reducing CDS available today. To learn more, visit stansonhealth.com or call  310.444.7178 

Media Contacts:

SCL Health System 
Christine Woolsey, Chief Communications Officer
(303) 813-5065
christine.woolsey@sclhs.net

Stanson Health
Kimberly Denney, VP Commercial Operations 
(310) 444-7178
Kimberly.Denney@stansonhealth.com 

SOURCE SCL Health Systems