Laboratory Information Systems
A laboratory information system, or LIS, is a software program that provides all the basic functionality needed for a clinical laboratory, whether that laboratory is hospital-based or a standalone commercial laboratory facility. Various components of the LIS will handle patient check-in, order entry, results entry, physician and patient demographics, specimen processing, and have some level of reporting ability.
Legacy laboratory information systems are typically homegrown, that is, they were developed within the organization 20 or 30 years ago, or were purchased ”off the shelf.” Homegrown systems and legacy systems often have problems with connectivity, scalability and flexibility, especially as technology changes within the laboratory and healthcare industry. Off-the-shelf products often force laboratories to modify their workflow to adapt to the LIS, rather than the other way around. Also, numerous LIS vendors have gone out of business or shifted their focus to other areas in the last two decades. Often legacy LISes utilize multiple databases, which create a great deal of difficulty with database interfaces and data synchronization.
Newer LISes are increasingly able to offer what laboratories need: modular-based systems with customizable functionality, scalability and a high level of adaptable connectivity for both institutional electronic medical records (EMRs) and physician access. Laboratories also require a LIS to to interface with the laboratory’s instrumentation, which allows patient results to be directly entered into the database and then into the EMR; Web-based order entry/result inquiry; and workload balancing. The LIS often has non-clinical functionality such as workflow monitoring and billing services.
In addition, these systems need to be customizable, be able to effectively and easily interface with both the institution’s electronic health record, the laboratory’s automated equipment, and provide Web-based access for physicians.
The environment for health information technology, specifically LISes, requires adherence to a number of national and international standards including CLIA, CCHIT, ANSI, HL7, HITSP, and LOINC.
LIS Pioneer and Entrepreneur Sidney Goldblatt, MD, Dies at 87
IN THE 1970S, THE ARRIVAL OF AUTOMATED LAB ANALYZERS—such as the Technicon …
LIS Market Will Change After Oracle, CliniSys Deals
CEO SUMMARY: With its purchase of Cerner Corporation, Oracle becomes the owner of Cerner’s Millennium laboratory information system (LIS) and CoPathPlus, Cerner’s anatomic pathology LIS. Only three weeks later, CliniSys, a division of Roper Technologies, announced it was acquiri…
Oracle’s $28b Cerner Deal Shows Value of Health Data
CEO SUMMARY: For three decades, pathologists and clinical lab executives regularly pointed out that clinical laboratory data was extremely valuable. But it seemed nothing changed, no one listened, and labs could not monetize their lab data. Now, one of Silicon Valley’s bigger play…
More LIS Consolidation as CliniSys Buys Horizon Lab
CEO SUMMARY: By acquiring Horizon Lab Systems, CliniSys has committed to moving some of its services beyond the clinical laboratory as Horizon sells into other lab markets, such as environmental management. Also, CliniSys will combine with Sunquest Information Systems,…
Artificial Intelligence Is Ready to Deliver for Labs
CEO SUMMARY: Artificial intelligence (AI) may be one of the most over-used terms to describe a host of different applications, software tools, and products. However, during the past year, some truly revolutionary digital tools are now in use by a small number of innovative clinical laboratories…
Pandemic Complicates Sales for Lab Info System Companies
HEALTHCARE INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (IT) COMPANIES serving clinical laboratories and providers with laboratory information systems (LISs) and electronic health records (EHRs) shared recent financial reports on their businesses. It is challenging to obtai…
LIS and Lab Informatics Vendors Report Second Quarter Earnings
IT’S BEEN A CHALLENGING YEAR for companies that sell laboratory information systems (LIS) to the nation’s clinical laboratories. Because of the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak, labs have delayed decisions to acquire or upgrade their existing LIS systems, as well as previously-scheduled installs of new o…
Labs Should Heed Lessons from Huge Data Breach
CEO SUMMARY: Following news last month about the biggest breach of personal health information in the clinical lab industry, lawyers representing some of the affected patients filed at least 12 class action lawsuits. Federal officials and attorneys general in multiple states also launched…
LIS-EHR Fees Increasing, Say Hospital Lab Execs
CEO SUMMARY: Hospital and health system lab managers say some vendors of electronic health record systems for independent physicians are aggressively raising the fees they charge labs. Labs serving outreach physicians now pay more in two ways, they say. First, they pay the price the vendo…
For Labs, Blockchain Offers New Opportunities
CEO SUMMARY: Some of blockchain’s proponents view its potential uses in health information technology to combat cybersecurity threats and improve the secure exchange of health information through electronic medical record systems. But for clinical laboratories, blockchain could be the k…
CURRENT ISSUE
Volume XXXI, No. 5 – April 8, 2024
The fragmentation of consumer markets is reflected in clinical lab services, and The Dark Report examines this trend and how it will impact labs in the coming years. Also, The Dark Report notes that the FDA has issued a controversial memo to reclassify many high-risk IVD assays.
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