Oncology Insights: Clinical Decision Support

Clinical decision support (CDS) tools/systems are currently a hot topic because of recent advances in artificial intelligence (AI) and attempted applications of AI in health care, including oncology. HMP Market Access Insights (MAI) has discovered, however, that the market still has a long way to go before CDS tools/systems have a mainstream influence on most aspects of care, especially therapeutic choices for cancer patients.

In December 2023 HMP MAI delivered the Special Topic Report “Potential Potential – A Status Report on Clinical Decision Support Systems.” Here are some key findings:

1. The majority of today’s CDS system functionality is based on if-then formulas programmed by humans and integrated into electronic medical record systems (eg, on-screen flags/alerts), which many people do not consider to be true AI.  
2. Currently, the most prominent underlying challenge to the success and adoption of CDS tools is data: structure, interoperability and portability, and ultimately provider trust in it; CDS systems also have potential long-term unintended consequences.
3. For now, manufacturers should ensure that their product information is complete and accurate in CDS systems and monitor advances in the standardization of data structures and auto-generated treatment pathways.

Subscribers! Come check out the full CDS insights report here, which includes more information about the following and implications for oncology drug manufacturers:  

• Intended benefits, examples of uses, and types
• Major players
• FDA regulations
• Current major challenges  
• Case studies and published research  
• Divergent scenario planning
• AI in health care: opinions, opportunities, and challenges