News, Analysis, Trends, Management Innovations for
Clinical Laboratories and Pathology Groups

Hosted by Robert Michel

News, Analysis, Trends, Management Innovations for
Clinical Laboratories and Pathology Groups

Hosted by Robert Michel
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Recognizing Inconsistency in EHR Lab Test Orders, Vendors Introduce Software to Improve Clinical Pathology Laboratory Test Ordering and Results Reporting

To solve this problem, clinical laboratories can contract with best in class vendors that will put screens on orders and results that filter out inconsistencies

In recent weeks the Department of Health and Human Services announced that more than 50% of doctors and 80% of eligible hospitals would be using electronic health record (EHR) systems by the end of 2013. Although federal officials are celebrating this accomplishment, for the clinical laboratory testing industry, EHR adoption, at best, has been problematic and, at worst, is a financial burden.

Despite increased connectivity, clinical laboratories have had create interfaces between their laboratory information systems (LISs) and the EHRs of their client physicians and hospitals. The federal officials who designed the financial incentives foster meaningful use among all clinicians for EHR adoption, but have not reimbursed labs for the substantial time and expense needed to establish these interfaces. (more…)

Study Shows Too Many Electronic Alerts Cause 30% of Primary Care Physicians to Overlook Essential Clinical Laboratory Test Results

Missed results in EHRs were related to information overload, electronic handoffs from one provider to another, and perceptions of poor usability of the EHR

Physicians often overlook important clinical laboratory test results when they get too many alerts in a day. This was one of several findings from a study designed to see how physicians responded to alerts delivered through an electronic health record system (EHR).

These findings will not surprise most pathologists and medical laboratory managers. Daily and weekly, they see how frequently “out of normal” test results can be reported to a referring physician. (more…)

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