"...COSTAR (Computer Stored Ambulatory Record)The COSTAR system creates and stores an electronic patient record that includes information from the medical history, physical examinations, laboratory reports, diagnoses, and treatments. Developed in 1968 at Massachusetts General Hospital and still in use today, COSTAR helped to improve quality of care by reminding physicians of guidelines in clinical practice.3 Not following guidelines can lead to complications. For example, rheumatic fever (which can later cause damage to the valves of the heart) can result from an untreated strep infection.
In an AHRQ-funded study within a primary care internal medicine clinic, 13 guidelines were incorporated into the COSTAR program to remind physicians to perform specific screening and preventive measures (Table 1). As a result, physician practice improved significantly for 10 of these 13 health maintenance measures between 1992 and 1993, and 7 out of 10 continued to show significant improvement in 1997. ..."
from: http://www.ahcpr.gov/data/informatics/informatria.htm