Clinical Order

Synonyms

Order item; Service order; Service request; Service item; Procedure order; Procedure request

Definition

The act of requesting that a service be performed for a patient.

Clinical orders in healthcare share many characteristics with purchase orders in other industries. Both clinical orders and purchase orders establish a customer-provider relationship between the person placing the request for a service to be provided and the person or organization filling the request. In both cases, the clinical order and purchase order are followed by either a promise or intent to fill the request, a decline to fill the request, or a counter-proposal to provide an alternate service. In both scenarios, an authorization step such as an insurance company authorization or a credit company authorization may be required. Therefore, the dynamic flow of communications between a placer and filler in a clinical order management system and a purchase order management system are very similar.

Both...