CDS Hooks, published by Clinical Decision Support WG. This guide is not an authorized publication; it is the continuous build for version 2.0.0 built by the FHIR (HL7® FHIR® Standard) CI Build. This version is based on the current content of https://github.com/HL7/cds-hooks/ and changes regularly. See the Directory of published versions

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Official URL: https://cds-hooks.hl7.org/ImplementationGuide/hl7.other.uv.cds-hooks				Version: 2.0.0
Draft as of 2024-04-10				Computable Name: CDSHooks

​ Continuous Improvement Build
This is the continuous integration, community release of the CDS Hooks specification. All stable releases are available at https://cds-hooks.hl7.org.

Overview

This specification describes a “hook”-based pattern for invoking decision support from within a clinician’s workflow. The API supports:

• Synchronous, workflow-triggered CDS calls returning information and suggestions
• Launching a user-facing SMART app when CDS requires additional interaction

CDS Hooks Anatomy

This specification describes a “hook”-based pattern for invoking decision support from within a clinician’s workflow. The API supports:

• Synchronous, workflow-triggered CDS calls returning information and suggestions
• Launching a web page to provide additional information to the user
• Launching a user-facing SMART app when CDS requires additional interaction

The main concepts of the specification are Services, CDS Clients, and Cards.

CDS Services

​A CDS Service is a service that provides recommendations and guidance through the RESTful APIs described by this specification. The primary APIs are Discovery, which allows a CDS Developer to publish the types of CDS Services it provides. The Service API that CDS Clients use to request decision support. The Feedback API through which services learn the outcomes of their recommendations and guidance.

CDS Clients

​A CDS Client is an Electronic Health Record (EHR), or other clinical information system that uses decision support by calling CDS Services at specific points in the application’s workflow called hooks. Each hook defines the hook context (contextual information available within the CDS Client and specific to the workflow) that is provided as part of the request. Each service advertises which hooks it supports and what prefetch data (information needed by the CDS Service to determine what decision support should be presented) it requires. In addition, CDS Clients typically provide the FHIR resource server location and associated authorization information as part of the request to enable services to request additional information.

Cards

​Decision support is then returned to the CDS Client in the form of cards, which the CDS Client MAY display to the end-user as part of their workflow. Cards may be informational, or they may provide suggestions that the user may accept or reject they may provide a link to additional information or even launch a SMART app when additional user interaction is required.