Use of a computerized physician-order entry system with decision-support alerts could reduce redundant CT scans, lower imaging costs and reduce unnecessary radiation exposure, according to research in JAMA Internal Medicine.
Spurred by fast-growing rates of expensive imaging procedures, researchers from Harvard Medical School, Boston, and the Center for Evidence-Based Imaging, Brookline, Mass., designed a study aimed at assessing whether notification of recent CT scans could change physician behavior and curb overuse.
Over a five month period, from Jan. 1, 2010, to May 31, 2010, the researchers entered all CT orders into the CPOE system at 779-bed Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston. Physicians received a computerized alert when they ordered a potentially redundant CT scan for a patient who had undergone a scan on the same body part within the previous 90 days.