How Clinical Pathology Laboratories Are Preparing to Support EMR Adoption by Office-Based Physicians
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.
