Targeting alerts in electronic medical systems can greatly reduce unnecessary tests that yield false positives and help physicians pay closer attention to the messages they get, according to a new study.
The study, conducted by managed care organization Kaiser Permanente, involved a randomized trial of 788,000 patients at eight clinics. It found that an electronic alert sent to physicians the moment they ordered a blood test for elderly patients reduced unnecessary use of tests that often produce false-positives for the elderly. The alert was simple: it told physicians that the test was not reliable for that age group.