Amirfar et al. BMC Public Health 2011, 11:753 http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/11/753 conceptual framework and design of the article. All authors read and approved the final manuscript. Author’s information All authors work at the Primary Care Information Project (PCIP) which is a bureau of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. PCIP is tasked with addressing healthcare disparities in New York City by helping providers, especially those working in lower socioeconomic neighborhoods, with adopting information technology. Since 2008, PCIP and later serving as a Regional Extension Center partner, NYC REACH, has helped over 2500 providers to adopt electronic health records. Jesse Singer is the Executive Director of the Development Group in charge of customizing the EHRs to be more public health focused. Sheila Anane serves as the project manager. John Taverna is in charge of the information technology issues. Sam Amirfar is in charge of updating and modifying the medical content within the EHRs. Competing interests The authors declare that they have no competing interests. Received: 21 April 2011 Accepted: 30 September 2011 Published: 30 September 2011 References 1. Cohen L, Desai E, Guerrero Z, Havusha A, Sliger F, Frieden TR: Take Care New York: Fourth Year Progress Report. New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene; 2008. 2. Mostashari F, Tripathi M, Kendall M: A tale of two large community electronic health record extension projects. Health Aff (Millwood) 2009, 28:345-56. 3. Wang SJ, Middleton B, Prosser LA, Bardon CG, Spurr CD, Carchidi PJ, Kittler AF, Goldszer RC, Fairchild DG, Sussman AJ, Kuperman GJ, Bates DW: A cost-benefit analysis of electronic medical records in primary care. Am J Med 2003, 114:397-403. 4. Grieger DL, Cohen SH, Krusch DA: A pilot study to document the return on investment for implementing an ambulatory electronic health record at an academic medical center. J Am Coll Surg 2007, 205:89-96. 5. Adusumilli SR, Tobin JN, Younge RG, Kendall M, Kukafka R, Khan S, Chang O, Mahabir K: The New York City eClinician Project: using Personal Digital Assistants and wireless internet access to support emergency preparedness and enhance clinical care in community health centers. AMIA Annu Symp Proc 2006, 839. 6. Fischer MA, Vogeli C, Stedman MR, Ferris TG, Weissman JS: Uptake of electronic prescribing in community-based practices. J Gen Intern Med 2008, 23:358-63. 7. Crosson JC, Isaacson N, Lancaster D, McDonald EA, Schueth AJ, DiCicco- Bloom B, Newman JL, Wang CJ, Bell DS: Variation in electronic prescribing implementation among twelve ambulatory practices. J Gen Intern Med 2008, 23:364-71. 8. Grossman JM, Gerland A, Reed MC, Fahlman C: Physicians’ experiences using commercial e-prescribing systems. Health Aff (Millwood) 2007, 26: w393-404. 9. Hunt DL, Haynes RB, Hanna SE, Smith K: Effects of computer-based clinical decision support systems on physician performance and patient outcomes: a systematic review. JAMA 1998, 280:1339-46. Pre-publication history The pre-publication history for this paper can be accessed here: http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/11/753/prepub doi:10.1186/1471-2458-11-753 Cite this article as: Amirfar et al.: Developing public health clinical decision support systems (CDSS) for the outpatient community in New York City: our experience. BMC Public Health 2011 11:753. Page 8 of 8 Submit your next manuscript to BioMed Central and take full advantage of: • Convenient online submission • Thorough peer review • No space constraints or color ﬁgure charges • Immediate publication on acceptance • Inclusion in PubMed, CAS, Scopus and Google Scholar • Research which is freely available for redistribution Submit your manuscript at www.biomedcentral.com/submit