UpToDate, Lexicomp Score Highest in Patient Care Impact in KLAS Clinical Decision Support Report

Minneapolis, MN — January 14, 2014— Wolters Kluwer Health, a leading global provider of information for healthcare professionals and students, announced today that its UpToDate^® and Lexicomp^® solutions received the highest scores for impact on patient care in their respective categories in KLAS’ report on the clinical decision support solutions market. Clinical Decision Support 2013: Sizing Up Point-of-Care Reference Tools[i] also ranked the solutions as best at helping clinicians stay current with best practices.

In the report, KLAS examined clinical decision support tools in four categories: Disease Reference, Diagnostic Decision Support, Nursing Reference and Drug Reference. Specifically, the healthcare IT vendor research firm examined the impact these tools have on patient care and how important they are to providers.

 

UpToDate, which was called “indispensible” by users surveyed, has the widest usage within the Disease Reference category and is preferred by physicians at the point of care. UpToDate users also called out its easy-to-use search functionality and frequent integration with EMRs and ProVation^® Order Sets, powered by UpToDate Decision Support, both of which save time. As a result, more than 80% report using UpToDate all the time with the remainder indicating that they use it regularly.

 

“I think the power of UpToDate is that it can suggest without over-alerting. I certainly think we would be more error-prone, less current, and certainly less safe without the product,” noted one survey respondent.

 

The report also looked at frequency and ease-of-use, and how well each solution fits within clinical workflows. Within the Drug Reference category, Lexicomp scored highest for its ability to help clinicians save time, as well as the simplicity of finding desired content and easy integration into physician workflows. Users, all of whom indicated they would be negatively impacted by the loss of the referential drug information resource, gave Lexicomp top scores for helping them stay current with best practices. Mobile access also received high marks.

 

Said one survey respondent: “Lexicomp Online is a fast, direct, easy-to-use tool. If we have questions about dosage or triangulation, we can get them answered quickly. Nobody has any trouble using the system. If we didn't have it, we would have to take bits and pieces from a lot of other products in order to get the same functionality.”

 

The report credited integration of Lexicomp at many facilities with order sets, as well as drug formularies and UpToDate, as bolstering its rating in these areas. In fact, integration was a central theme across categories, with KLAS singling out Wolters Kluwer Health as “the only vendor whose customers talk about the benefit of a combo meal, or leveraging multiple products via integrated workflows. In addition to tying UpToDate into their EMR, customers mentioned having UpToDate, Lexicomp, VisualDx, and ProVation Order Sets tied together in varying degrees. This allowed them to seamlessly transition between the products without interrupting their workflow.”

 

“Our focus has always been on providing clinicians with evidence-based information and care management recommendations based on best practices and proven protocols delivered at the point of care in meaningful ways,” said Arvind Subramanian, President and CEO, Wolters Kluwer Health, Clinical Solutions. “We are honored to have our decision support solutions ranked so highly by our customers. We believe it validates our continued focus on leveraging the latest technology and trusted clinical content to deliver real value by improving care quality and safety.”

About Wolters Kluwer Health

Wolters Kluwer Health is a leading global provider of information, business intelligence and point-of-care solutions for the healthcare industry. Serving more than 150 countries and territories worldwide, Wolters Kluwer Health’s customers include professionals, institutions and students in medicine, nursing, allied health and pharmacy. Major brands include Health Language^®, Lexicomp^®, Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Medicom^®, Medknow, Ovid^®, Pharmacy OneSource^®, ProVation^® Medical and UpToDate^®.

 

Wolters Kluwer Health is part of Wolters Kluwer, a market-leading global information services company. Wolters Kluwer had 2012 annual revenues of €3.6 billion ($4.6 billion), employs approximately 19,000 people worldwide, and maintains operations in over 40 countries across Europe, North America, Asia Pacific, and Latin America. Follow our official Twitter handle: @WKHealth.

 

About KLAS
KLAS is a research firm on a global mission to improve healthcare delivery by enabling providers to be heard and be counted. Working with thousands of healthcare executives and clinicians, KLAS gathers data on software, services, medical equipment, and infrastructure systems to deliver timely reports, trends, and statistical overviews. The research directly represents the provider voice and acts as a catalyst for improving vendor performance. Founded in 1996, KLAS staff and advisory board average 25 years of healthcare information technology experience. For more information, go to www.KLASresearch.com, email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , or call 1-800-920-4109 to speak with a KLAS representative. Follow KLAS on Twitter at www.twitter.com/KLASresearch.