Stanson Health partners with Consumer Reports to deliver guidance to patients at the point of care

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 22, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Stanson Health, a population health clinical decision support (CDS) and analytics company, announced today that it has licensed health content from Consumer Reports for distribution within Stanson's next-generation CDS solution.  Stanson's CDS will complement its notifications to clinicians of unnecessary and potentially harmful care with links to Consumer Reports resources for patients and families.  These notifications are presented to clinicians at the point of care, ensuring that patients are provided with relevant information at the specific moment when critical health care decisions are being made.  This will aid in both organizations' missions to improve the quality of health care, while reducing unnecessary costs.

Among Stanson's portfolio of CDS alerts spanning PQRS, HEDIS, and ACO measures, Stanson supports the ABIM Foundation's "Choosing Wisely®" campaign through actionable CDS derived from evidence based guidelines including the participation of more than 60 medical and subspecialty societies.  Consumer Reports joined the Choosing Wisely campaign to provide information for consumers and physicians to engage in these important conversations.  The patient information that Stanson has licensed from Consumer Reports focuses on promoting these discussions between patients and physicians about appropriate care.  By actively alerting physicians during patient encounters in both the ambulatory and inpatient settings, Stanson's alerts quickly remind physicians why a particular intervention may not be needed for the specific patient being evaluated and provide links to relevant Consumer Reports patient resources, as well.

Through the use of clinically tested and validated alerts, Stanson's solution – unlike other untested CDS solutions – minimizes physician alert fatigue and ensures that only the specific patient information from Consumer Reports that is relevant to each patient's clinical situation will be provided at the point of care.  Stanson's solution also includes an Analytics Engine, which compiles provider order data for near real-time analysis of how frequently Choosing Wisely® guidelines were followed or overridden.  Timely feedback on adherence with evidence-based practice supports healthcare's "triple aim" of improving the safety and quality of care while reducing costs.

Consumer Reports leads the consumer communication efforts of the ABIM Foundation's Choosing Wisely® campaign by distributing consumer-focused materials that help patients identify and choose high-quality, high-value, products and services.  "With more than 100 Choosing Wisely® brochures about overused imaging, tests, drugs and procedures, we are particularly determined that information relevant to each patient's clinical situation  be provided at the point of care," said Dr. John Santa, Medical Director, Consumer Reports.  "As with physicians, patients also need the right information at the right time and Consumer Reports has that information." Scott Weingarten, MD, Chairman of the Board of Stanson Health, added: "Our joint effort will support physicians with explaining health care decisions based on clinical evidence and guidelines to their patients and guide both physicians and patients to high-quality, high-value health care."

About Consumer Reports
Consumers Reports is an expert, independent, nonprofit organization whose mission is to work for a fair, just, and safe marketplace for all consumers and to empower consumers to protect themselves.  As consumers become increasingly involved in their own health decisions, they need unbiased, accurate, evidence-based information to compare their options and to make appropriate choices for themselves and their families. For more information about Consumer Reports Health go to www.ConsumerHealthChoices.org.

About Stanson Health
Headquartered in Los Angeles, CA, Stanson Health's solutions support 19 hospitals and more than 12,000 physicians to safely eliminate unnecessary or inappropriate care while improving adherence to quality measures and guidelines.  Health systems leveraging Stanson solutions obtain a return on their CDS investment exceeding 15:1. To learn more, visit stansonhealth.com or call 310.444.7178 

Media Contacts:

Consumer Reports
Dominic J. Lorusso, Director
(914) 378-2098
Dlorusso@consumer.org

Stanson Health
Murtaza Mogri, Director
(310) 444-7178
Murtaza.Mogri@stansonhealth.com