Combating the Opioid Crisis using Clinical Decision Support at Atrium Health

Matt Sullivan, MD

Alan Staples

Matt Sullivan, MD, CMIO, Atrium Health, and Alan Staples, Senior Strategist, Cerner. Atrium Health utilizes clinical decision support alerts within the electronic health record that are triggered by selected risks for opioid abuse. The alerts might include a history of prior opioid overdose, or whether he or she had tested positive for marijuana or cocaine in a prior toxicology screening. Atrium Health physicians who prescribe opioids or benzos are alerted by the electronic health record when a patient’s history shows one of five red flags. In six months, Atrium Health prevented: 3,860 opioid prescriptions and 2,857 BZD prescriptions. The ultimate goal of this intervention was not to achieve a cancellation for all at-risk patients; rather, to provide information to prescribers to augment their clinical decision-making with the utilization of real-time information at the point of care.