(Editor’s Note: While our Featured Article most often presents the observations of a medical librarian, occasionally we elect to discuss a new product, as we have done this month.)

Librarians have been vocal on MEDLIB-L and other forums about the challenges of providing access to online references. And the field is populated with a lot of options, including McGraw-Hill’s Access platforms, UpToDate, DynaMed, OvidMD and ClinicalKey, to cite the most visible. A new product offering has just emerged with an attention-grabbing pricing model, Clinical Decision Support, from Decision Support in Medicine, LLC. This month we are featuring an interview with Lew Reines, CEO of Decision Support in Medicine, to learn more about this new point-of-care tool.

Q: Librarians have many point-of-care references to choose from. What differentiates Clinical Decision Support?
A: Three things: Clinical Decision Support is written expressly for use at point of care. The programs feature expert authorship. And, most importantly, it has been prepared as a modern digital reference -- it is not a repurposed book.

Q: Who is your intended audience?
A: Physicians, no matter their level of training, seeking authoritative answers to their questions.

Q: How comprehensive is the coverage in Clinical Decision Support for this audience?
A: As comprehensive as the expert editors of each program thought it should be. Remember, this is not one program but many, written to satisfy docs in that specialty.

Q: The publisher, Decision Support in Medicine, LLC, will be an unfamiliar name to librarians. As the founder, tell us a little bit about your background and why you chose to start a new company.
A: I enjoyed a 44-year career in (print) medical publishing, serving as CEO of Saunders, Mosby, Churchill-Livingstone, and Lippincott. In talking to librarians over the course of the years, I became convinced that what was really wanted and needed by physicians was a true point-of-care series of programs, not one general program lacking any depth of coverage.

Q: What platforms is Clinical Decision Support available on?
A: Users can access each program on desktop computers, smartphones, tablets, and other mobile devices.

Q: What is the cost of a one-year institutional license?
A: $10,000.

Q: How can you afford to price your platform so low when the competition is anywhere from 2.5 to more than 10 times as expensive?
A: I cannot speak to other publishers' prices, but we priced to offer our customers authoritative programs at a reasonable price. And we can do well by doing good.

Q: If an institution has already invested tens of thousands of dollars in another platform, how can they justify investing even more in a brand new resource like Clinical Decision Support?
A: The CDS programs are something new. Today’s physicians have less time to do more. I think every good librarian knows that one resource isn't the answer. They have myriad books and journals on the same topics. We priced the CDS programs so that the librarian will be the arbiter of whether it is money well spent...or if it serves the needs of their patrons as well as, or better than, other -- more costly -- digital resources do. We believe it does, but are happy to let our customers be the judge.

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As a unique benefit for all Doody’s subscribers, Decision Support in Medicine is offering a 25% discount off its annual licensing fee. More information is available here.