California HealthCare Foundation and First Consulting Group Report Features Tools, Tips and Case Studies.

Business Editors & Health/Medical Writers

OAKLAND, Calif. & LONG BEACH, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 28, 2002

Clinical Decision Support Technology Increasingly Available to

Physicians in Smaller Groups

Clinical decision-support tools are becoming increasingly available to the 60% of US physicians who practice in smaller groups, according to the report, "Clinical Decision Support for the Independent Physician Practice."

Commissioned by California HealthCare Foundation (CHCF) and conducted by First Consulting Group (FCG), (NASDAQ: FCGI), the report highlights readily available tools that support clinical decision-making in the outpatient practice and tips on getting started in bringing these to the point of care. As illustrated in a number of case examples, an increasing number of early adopters are successfully implementing clinical decision-support tools that range from the simple to more complex. Their experiences help demonstrate what innovative physicians can do using technology available today.

"The technology, complexity and cost barriers that have traditionally discouraged smaller practices from implementing clinical decision-support tools appear to be diminishing so that even smaller practices are able to integrate these tools into their clinical workflow," according to Thomas Lee, M.D., M.B.A., senior program officer at CHCF. "This is particularly important given the growing informational demands and time pressures that independent practitioners face today."

Case studies include a six-physician family practice in Waterloo, Iowa that uses an electronic medical record (EMR) with decision-support features to better manage their diabetic patients; a residency clinic in Arkansas that uses automated clinical reference tools to access disease and pharmaceutical information in the exam room; and a New Jersey IPA using an electronic patient registry with 33 affiliated family practices to improve the care of asthmatic patients.

According to Gordon Moore, M.D., a solo family practitioner featured in the report, "My EMR and patient registry give me the ability to be much more proactive in managing my patients' health. It simply wouldn't be possible otherwise to do outreach when my patients need to be scheduled for foot or blood-pressure checks, for example. Practicing medicine this way is definitely the right thing to do, and I would never go back to paper as my major information tool."

Jane Metzger, Research Director at First Consulting Group and an author of the report, said, "The combination of Web technology and vendor solutions that supply clinical applications in bite-size pieces that are easier to implement has opened a lot of doors for smaller physician practices to jump into this space. Though use is not yet widespread, clinical decision support systems are now more affordable and do not require huge upfront technology investments."

Copies of this report and other publications in the iHealth Report series can be obtained by visiting CHCF online (www.chcf.org).

About the California HealthCare Foundation

The California HealthCare Foundation (CHCF) is an independent philanthropy committed to improving California's healthcare delivery and financing systems. The iHealth Reports series focuses on emerging technology trends and applications related to policy and regulatory developments. For more information, visit www.chcf.org.

About First Consulting Group

FCG is a leading provider of consulting, technology, outsourcing and applied research services for healthcare, pharmaceutical, and other life sciences organizations throughout North America, Europe and Japan. The firm's services increase clients' operations effectiveness, resulting in reduced costs, improved customer service, enhanced quality of patient care, and more rapid introduction of new pharmaceutical compounds. For more information about FCG, visit www.fcg.com or call 800-345-0957.