Preventing Duplicate Test Orders Reduces Costs

Unnecessary laboratory tests can be reduced by blocking physicians from ordering the same test for hospitalized patients more than once a day. A new program at Cleveland Clinic employed a clinical decision support tool to block duplicate test orders during the computerized physician order entry process each day and to provide the results of the duplicate test ordered. The tool blocked 11,790 unnecessary duplicate test orders in two years, resulting in a cost savings of $183,586. — Cleveland Clinic