Automated Clinical Reminders for Primary Care Providers in the Care of CKD: A Small Cluster-Randomized Controlled Trial

Background Primary care physicians (PCPs) care for most non–dialysis-dependent patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). Studies suggest that PCPs may deliver suboptimal CKD care. One means to improve PCP treatment of CKD is clinical decision support systems (CDSSs). Study Design Cluster-randomized controlled trial. Setting & Participants 30 PCPs in a university-based outpatient general internal medicine practice and their 248 patients with moderate to advanced CKD who had not been referred to a nephrologist. Intervention 2 CKD educational sessions were held for PCPs in both arms. The 15 intervention-arm PCPs also received real-time automated electronic medical record alerts for patients with estimated glomerular filtration rates