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Remembering COVID: Avunjian Earns Top Honor for the LigoLab and TestDirectly Response to COVID-19
August 14, 2025
Editor’s Note: On May 11, 2023, the World Health Organization officially declared the global COVID-19 Public Health Emergency over. While many have moved forward, healthcare professionals, especially those involved in laboratory information systems (LIS software) and pathology lab management, must continue to reflect on lessons learned to strengthen preparedness for future infectious disease threats.
Discover More: End of the Federal COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (PHE) Declaration
At LigoLab, supporting our lab partners throughout the pandemic was a top priority. We responded to rapidly evolving needs with innovative LIS software solutions that helped laboratories overcome unprecedented challenges. From optimizing laboratory workflow management to enhancing safety for patients and providers, our collaborative efforts played a vital role in sustaining operations during the crisis.
A defining memory of this experience was documenting our partners’ resilience on the frontlines as events unfolded. In honoring their dedication, we revisit a pivotal moment from December 2020, reflecting on COVID-19’s lasting impact and the role of modern LIS lab technology in shaping the future of laboratory operations.
Avunjian, LigoLab, and TestDirectly Recognized for COVID-19 Leadership
LigoLab CEO Suren Avunjian was one of five business leaders recently honored for Innovations in Healthcare by Adaptive Business Leaders, an organization providing monthly Round Table forums for CEOs, Presidents, and GMs of healthcare and technology companies in California.
Mimi Grant, President of ABL, noted that all five innovators recognized at this year’s virtual event created new products and service lines, taking bold steps to not only withstand the crisis but to thrive during the most challenging days of the COVID-19 pandemic. Each Innovator in Healthcare awardee shared how they identified a specific COVID-related problem, developed an effective solution, and achieved measurable results after implementation.
“What’s unique about this year’s honorees,” Grant said, “is that their innovations not only reduce the cost of quality care, but they were conceived and executed amid COVID. Every one of these entrepreneurs leaned into the crisis, turning far more than just lemonade out of its lemons.”
Industry Insights: The Future of Laboratory Diagnostics - Emerging Technologies and Patient-Centric Care
Avunjian, the event’s most highly rated innovator, was honored for the LigoLab and TestDirectly response to COVID-19. While detailing his laboratory information system (LIS) company’s response, he acknowledged that he had begun discussions with a laboratory partner about developing a direct-to-consumer lab testing portal in 2019, and that SARS-CoV-2 had quickly turned those discussions into an expedited reality.
“By the end of February (2020), we realized that the approaching pandemic was inevitable and that testing would be a crucial component to getting control of the virus,” said Avunjian. “With testing, we could get the country out of lockdown and prevent health systems from being overwhelmed with sick patients.”
Avunjian said laboratories across the country were unprepared for what was to come, and that he and his team responded quickly by pivoting the development of the TestDirectly direct-to-consumer lab testing platform to cater to the new drive-through testing workflow that labs were just beginning to utilize for specimen collections.
“Back in March, the laboratory industry faced several problems, most of which centered on the manual workarounds and processes implemented as a reaction to the new ways specimens had to be collected,” continued Avunjian. “The increased demand for testing and paper laboratory orders was creating huge bottlenecks and lines at the collection sites, and chokepoints at the laboratory. Once at the laboratory, these paper orders had to be transcribed into the organization’s lab information system, a slow, manual process that often resulted in data entry errors. Also, laboratories did not have any systems in place to return consumer lab reports directly to patients, so this became yet another manual process that caused more delays.”
Discover More: Introducing TestDirectly, One of LigoLab’s Most Powerful Supporting Modules
Avunjian’s Solution: Digitizing the Testing Process
So how did Avunjian and his team tackle this challenge? By digitizing the process.
“Within a few weeks, direct-to-consumer labs struggling with paper requisitions and unprecedented demand had a tool in TestDirectly (and TestDirectly.com) that could remove bottlenecks, increase testing capacity, reduce manual tasks, eliminate data entry errors, improve turnaround times, and assist public health agencies with tracking and tracing positive cases,” said Avunjian.
TestDirectly is a web-based direct-to-consumer lab testing portal that expands public access to testing while creating new revenue streams for laboratories and collection sites. Accessible from any smartphone, tablet, or computer, it integrates seamlessly with all laboratory information systems (LIS systems) and laboratory billing solutions.
The platform establishes a fully digital workflow covering the entire specimen lifecycle, from patient self-registration and appointment scheduling to specimen collection (drive-through, walk-up, or organizational testing), laboratory processing, report delivery, and laboratory revenue cycle management (lab RCM).
“The goal was to serve more patients without delaying results,” Avunjian explained. “We launched TestDirectly in March, and nine months later, over four million tests have been processed through our platform.”
Maximizing Impact with LigoLab and TestDirectly
Avunjian emphasized that while TestDirectly was built to integrate with any laboratory information system, it delivers exceptional results when paired with LigoLab’s all-in-one medical LIS and lab billing informatics platform.
“Our fully integrated LigoLab partner labs that incorporated TestDirectly into their COVID-19 workflows have seen tremendous benefits,” said Avunjian. “Two partners, in particular, surpassed one million COVID tests in November. These labs are processing up to 25,000 samples per day, and in nearly 99% of cases, patients receive results within 24 hours of the lab receiving their samples.”
Beyond the streamlined TestDirectly process, LigoLab’s clinical laboratory management solutions support pooled testing technology, enabling direct-to-consumer labs to expand capacity, improve turnaround times, and reduce supply costs. The platform also offers advanced lab billing automation and validation tools to help testing organizations efficiently manage the surge in COVID-19 claims.
Through the combined power of LigoLab and TestDirectly, labs and collection sites nationwide can now connect with patients, physicians, employers, and government agencies for fast, safe, and efficient direct-to-patient and direct-to-consumer specimen collection, testing, and reporting.
Avunjian on the Future of Healthcare and What’s Next
Looking ahead, Avunjian noted that the pandemic has accelerated the adoption of digital technologies in healthcare by three to four years, solidifying consumerism as a lasting trend as patients take a more active role in managing their health. He also predicted that advancing technology will help reduce medical errors, the third leading cause of death in the U.S., and play a transformative role in shaping the future of healthcare.
As for what’s next, LigoLab and TestDirectly are well-positioned to support mass vaccination efforts, which will be critical in controlling and ultimately defeating the coronavirus in 2021. More details will be shared in the coming days as Avunjian and his team continue to harness technology and innovation to address the next major healthcare challenge.
Industry Insights: Consumerism and How Clinical Labs Can Take Advantage of a Growing Trend
More About the LigoLab Platform
TestDirectly is the newest addition to the LigoLab Medical LIS & Lab Billing Informatics Platform, which also features fully customizable modules for anatomic pathology, clinical pathology, molecular diagnostics, and laboratory revenue cycle management. Since 2006, LigoLab has been a leading provider of LIS systems, uniting and integrating every department and lab process within a single, cohesive LIS software infrastructure.
Labs running the LigoLab platform benefit from complete integration, robust automation, and advanced verification and scrubbing tools. These real-time capabilities allow laboratories to initiate the lab billing cycle at the order level, resulting in higher clean claim submission rates, fewer denials, and measurable improvements in efficiency, revenue, and profitability.
More About ABL
Adapted Business Leaders (ABL) hosts specialized CEO Round Tables and Executive Forums for leaders in the healthcare and technology sectors. These gatherings create a unique brain trust of like-minded professionals who exchange industry insights, share expertise, and provide constructive feedback and encouragement to their peers. To learn more about the benefits of ABL membership, visit roundtables.abl.org.
