Discussions about preventive services: a qualitative study.

Background: Elderly minority patients are less likely to receive influenza vaccination and colorectal cancer screening than are other patients. Communication between primary care providers (PCPs) and patients may affect service receipt.

Methods: Encounters between 7 PCPs and 18 elderly patients were observed and audiotaped at 2 community health centers.

Costs associated with developing and implementing a computerized clinical decision support system for medication dosing for patients with renal insufficiency in the long-term care setting.

A team of physicians, pharmacists, and informatics professionals developed a CDSS added to a commercial electronic medical record system to provide prescribers with patient-specific maximum dosing recommendations based on renal function. We tracked the time spent by team members and used US national averages of relevant hourly wages to estimate costs. The team required 924.