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Involving patients and caregivers in the development and implementation of PC CDS helps ensure these tools are focused on the preferences, priorities, and outcomes that are most important to their users. However, PC CDS development has historically been led by health system leaders, electronic health record developers, and informaticians, which can lead to the creation of PC CDS tools that are not aligned with patients’ needs. In response, the CDSiC has developed multiple products that facilitate patient collaboration in PC CDS projects.  

About the How-To Guide  

This How-To Guide offers an overview of the CDSiC’s many resources focused on strengthening collaboration with patients on PC CDS efforts. These resources examine several core aspects of these collaborations—spanning approaches to codesigning tools alongside patients and caregivers, strategies for meaningful engagement throughout the CDS lifecycle, and methods to ensure patient perspectives shape both implementation and scale-up efforts. 

How To Use This How-To Guide  

Multiple PC CDS stakeholders, including patients, clinicians, researchers, and PC CDS developers, can use his How-To Guide to learn strategies to ensure that decision support is truly responsive to the needs, values, and lived experiences of patients.  

Suggested Citation: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality’s Clinical Decision Support Innovation Collaborative. How To: Collaborate with Patients on Patient-Centered Clinical Decision Support. Prepared under Contract No. 75Q80120D00018. AHRQ Publication No. 25-0076. Rockville, MD: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality; September 2025.