Dr. Chris Sistrom, an associate professor and the vice chair of the University of Florida College of Medicine Department of Radiology, will discuss the development and testing of a prototype system.

"Appropriateness criteria for diagnostic imaging exist in various formats, yet none are directly usable in computerized physician order-entry [CPOE] systems for decision support," he explained.

Sistrom and colleagues encoded the ACR's appropriateness criteria with tags to represent diagnostic imaging procedures and clinical scenarios. These formed the foundation of a prototype Web service enabling users to select modalities, body areas, topics, and clinical scenarios on an order-entry form. Once activated, a list of imaging procedures labeled with appropriateness scores is returned to the physician completing the form.

The prototype is currently being tested at several health centers.