Mar 25, 2011 | Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology
Clinical pathology laboratories will keep busy interfacing their LISs to these EMRs
Tis the season of electronic health records (EHR), now that both hospitals and physicians can qualify to earn incentives from the federal government when they implement these solutions and meet “meaningful use” criteria.
It is possible for individual hospitals to receive incentives totaling as much as $2 million for implementing a certified EHR. This is powerful motivation for cash-strapped hospitals. For that reason, pathologists and clinical laboratory managers of hospital laboratories can expect to be busy ensuring that their laboratory information system (LIS) interfaces properly with the EMR of their parent hospital.
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Sep 23, 2010 | Laboratory Pathology, News From Dark Daily
Some U.S. laboratories already ramping up their LIS resources to meet demand for LIS-to-EMR interfaces
Clinical laboratory managers and pathology groups need to prepare for what is expected to be a tsunami of requests by physicians who want their newly-implemented electronic medical record (EMR) systems to be interfaced with their laboratory’s LIS. This approaching tsunami is a consequence of the billions in federal incentive payments designed to encourage doctors to adopt EMRs.
It means lab managers and pathologists must actively prepare their medical laboratory to step up and support the “meaningful use” needs of client physicians. As mandated by the HITECH Act, healthcare providers are required to engage in “meaningful” patient health information (PHI) exchanges. Because more than 400,000 physicians will implement electronic medical records (EMR) in the next 60 months, labs should not delay in establishing a strategy.
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Sep 17, 2010 | Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology
Clinical laboratories and pathology groups are likely to need LIS upgrades
Clinical laboratories and anatomic pathology groups may soon face the need to upgrade or switch their laboratory information system (LIS) to a version that is HIPAA 5010 and ICD-10 capable. This is likely to be an overlooked consequence of the mass adoption of electronic medical record (EMR) systems by physicians across the country.
Between 2011 and 2015, it is predicted that 350,000 or more physicians will implement an EMR and use it in their daily practice. This is happening because of the federal incentives provided by the HITECH Act. The scale of the coming tidal wave of EMR adoption is revealed in a recent Frost & Sullivan report .
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Apr 16, 2010 | Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Pathology
Leica Microsystem acquires Genetix while Omnyx licenses patents from Olympus
More pathology laboratories are acquiring and deploying digital scanners and digital pathology systems. In response to the growing demand for digital pathology solutions, several prominent companies are extending their capabilities in virtual microscope slide technology. Over recent months, an acquisition and a licensing deal provide examples of the intense activity in the digital pathology marketplace.
The acquisition was done by Leica Microsystem, Inc., of Wetzlar, Germany. On March 10th, it announced its acquisition of Genetix, Ltd., based in New Milton, UK. The licensing deal involved Omnyx, LLC, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in an agreement that gives it access to certain patents held by Olympus Corporation. Both of these transactions occurred in March. Each was motivated by initiating the company’s need to further develop its technologies in support of whole slide imaging (WSI) and digital pathology systems.
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Jan 19, 2010 | Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology
Experts predict a surge in the number of physicians using electronic medical record systems
By dangling as much as $20 billion in front of physicians to encourage their adoption of electronic medical record (EMR) systems during the next few years, Congress has created a new and expensive challenge for the nation’s clinical laboratories. That challenge is the need for every pathology laboratory to establish a high-function interface from its LIS to the office-based physician’s EMR.
According to one expert, the government’s “carrot and stick” strategy to reward doctors financially for adopting EMR’s, will soon force independent medical laboratories and hospital laboratory outreach programs to play catch up with LIS-EMR interfaces to maintain access to physician referrals and the revenue that accompanies these laboratory test specimens.
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