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How Laboratory Information Systems Help Lab Operators Overcome Industry-Wide Staffing Shortages
January 9, 2026
Clinical labs and pathology groups are processing an increased workload of patient samples, causing lab directors and managers to face the formidable challenge of enhancing their laboratory workflow management practices to meet the steep rise in cases. This growing pressure to deliver is occurring alongside the current problem of widespread laboratory staffing shortages, including a seriously shrinking pool of medical laboratory technicians.
Modern medical laboratories rely on a multitude of internal clinical and pathology lab management workflow processes to run smoothly, including:
- Sample tracking management
- Patient data management
- Instrument integration
- Inventory audits
- Clinical report generation
- Quality assurance
- Compliance verification
The complexity and scale of operations required to run a successful medical lab demand sophisticated technological solutions. One such solution is the laboratory information system (LIS).
Industry Insights: Best LIS Systems in 2026 - Top Laboratory Information Systems Compared for Clinical, Pathology, and Outreach Labs
What is an Advanced Laboratory Information System (LIS)?
The COVID-19 pandemic forced many healthcare institutions to adopt creative new approaches to resource allocation and patient care. With some medical labs having to process thousands more samples daily, this was done out of necessity. Lab directors and managers sought immediate clinical and pathology management software solutions to help them handle the massive increase in volume. For example, they turned to automation of many lab processes to improve turnaround times and minimize the potential for processing errors.
Many LIS software solutions offered by traditional lab vendors support basic automation and digitization across the specimen lifecycle, including sample registration, tracking through analysis and processing, and report generation. While these capabilities represent important progress, they often stop short of delivering the advanced workflow orchestration and automation modern laboratories now require.
Most legacy, off-the-shelf laboratory information system platforms lack the flexibility and depth needed to support today’s complex clinical and pathology workflows, real-time analytics, and integrated financial processes. As healthcare continues to evolve at a rapid pace, driven by regulatory pressure, reimbursement complexity, staffing shortages, and growing test sophistication, medical laboratories can no longer rely on rigid LIS systems designed for a different era. To remain competitive and resilient, medical laboratories must either adopt modern, adaptable LIS software platforms capable of meeting these challenges head-on or risk falling behind as operational and financial strain intensifies.
Discover More: What You Need to Know Before Contracting with a Laboratory Information System (LIS) Company
High-Throughput Laboratory Performance Enabled by Modern LIS Medical Technology
A modern, advanced laboratory information system is essential for laboratories that require high throughput without compromising accuracy or compliance. By streamlining workflows and replacing manual handoffs with automated, rule-driven processes, today’s healthcare LIS platforms enable faster processing, error reduction, and more reliable test results and laboratory reports.
LigoLab exemplifies this approach with clinical and pathology lab reporting software built on the latest LIS system technology. The platform fully automates and integrates diverse laboratory workflows within a single, unified environment that combines modern laboratory information system functions with embedded laboratory billing and revenue cycle management (lab RCM). It also includes a direct-to-consumer lab testing web portal, further extending operational reach without introducing new data silos.
Together, these tightly integrated capabilities eliminate staff-intensive tasks across departments, reduce errors associated with manual processing at scale, and improve overall operational efficiency. Designed to address the unique needs of each medical laboratory it serves, LigoLab partners closely with its customers to deliver a flexible, configurable, and highly adaptable LIS software solution, establishing a distinct niche through its agile, bespoke approach to modern laboratory informatics.
Discover More: Comparing LigoLab Informatics Platform with Legacy Laboratory Information System Software
Mitigating the Laboratory Technician Shortage with an Advanced LIS System
A growing concern for labs is the need for more specialists and technologists, even as the pool of eligible candidates is shrinking. Some labs have even witnessed a tenfold increase in job vacancies.
Hiring medical labs are forced to rely on a floating workforce and traveling technologists, or provide cross-training to their existing staff, to cover lab workflows that don’t require an advanced degree. U.S. staffing shortages are impacting lab growth and revenue opportunities, with lab directors and managers now facing the challenge of using their limited staff to meet the demands of ever-increasing workloads.
As laboratory staff are tasked with increasing duties, many lab directors and managers are turning to advanced laboratory information system software to help alleviate the rising staff shortage problem and tackle it on an operational level.
Advanced laboratory information systems feature automation lines tailored to a lab’s specific needs, allowing lab directors and managers to adopt rules of operation that can be applied uniformly throughout all LIS lab workflow processes (including the laboratory billing process) and ultimately reduce dependencies on manual tasks.
The best LIS software can help identify the pain points in a particular lab workflow and then support the configuration of automated steps that can eliminate the lags typically caused by reliance on manual interventions. Barcoding of patient samples, for example, has simplified the registration process in many labs. This also integrates with other laboratory workflow management solutions to automate the process of sample tracking from processing to the delivery of lab reports with test results. Fewer LIS lab personnel are thus involved in monitoring and ensuring the smooth running of the pathology specimen tracking system feature embedded within an advanced platform.
Thus, medical labs are looking toward flexible innovations within the LIS pathology and clinical space, which can comprehensively address the growing need for automation and reduce the pressure on the limited number of qualified LIS system personnel available.
Industry Insights: The Rise and Fall of CoPath LIS - A Legacy Casualty of the Modern Lab Information System Era
The Best LIS Software: Key Laboratory Information System Functions
LigoLab’s all-in-one LIS & RCM Laboratory Informatics Platform has comprehensive and advanced automation capability that offers visibility into every step of lab workflow management operations.
Real-time Dashboards
Lab directors and managers can access real-time dashboards and widgets from the LigoLab platform, enabling them to monitor lab workflow performance and immediately identify critical bottlenecks impacting a lab’s efficiency.
When a lab workflow lags at any stage, a real-time dashboard and widgets can help lab directors and managers allocate more resources or configure an efficient automation process that improves throughput and minimizes reliance on LIS lab personnel. Improved visibility and real-time monitoring enable laboratories to eliminate redundancy, pinpoint operational pain points, and manage resources more efficiently and proactively.
Interoperability
Further addressing gaps in most legacy LIS systems, LigoLab delivers an interoperable informatics platform that supports interfacing with multiple lab and hospital modalities. The platform can easily establish connectivity with billing software for labs, electronic health record (EHR) systems, and other laboratory software systems/third-party services.
LigoLab’s purpose-built interface engine creates a lab interface system within the platform known for its connectability. The engine can electronically interface with an EHR system for in and out orders, creating an automated LIS software solution that offsets the workload of manual order registration and lab report delivery while helping to mitigate staffing shortages.
Discover More: LigoLab Delivers the LIS System Interoperability Needed to Transform Medical Laboratories into Thriving Businesses
Barcoding and Sample Tracking
Lab workflow with LigoLab is highly configurable. The platform features barcoding and sample tracking capabilities that enhance patient safety throughout processing. For example, LigoLab’s LIS system module automatically generates just-in-time labels with unique identifiers for every sample. Lab staffers can use the labels to track samples from start to finish. This automated lab sample management system minimizes manual processing errors and decreases dependencies on the lab’s staff.
Quality Assurance
Most clinical and pathology LIS systems integrate a quality assurance (QA) report to validate test results generated from an instrument. These are flagged for review and verification. LigoLab enables an auto-verification process that scans results and validates them against an algorithm for assuring quality control, automatically approving validated results for report generation. When a set of results requires attention, the LIS system's auto-verification process routes them into a special queue and flags them for the technician to review.
This improves overall lab report quality and automates the process, eliminating redundant tasks and maximizing staff resources. Auto-verification can thus mitigate some difficulties arising from the non-availability of sufficient staff resources.
Discover More: A Detailed Look at How Modern Laboratory Information Systems Fully Support Quality Control
Customized Lab Reports
In addition to creating an automated environment resilient to staff shortages, LigoLab’s laboratory information system functions include unlimited lab report customizations, enabling labs to utilize the report-building template engine to differentiate themselves from competitors. Laboratories can tailor reports to meet the specific needs of clinicians, physicians, and patients by creating customizable templates that support images, inserts, diagrams, and rich text, along with configurable color schemes for clearer communication and improved usability.
Once the lab report has been generated, the LIS software can be programmed to distribute it to the tagged consulting physician or department through various channels, including electronic health records.
Discover More: How LigoLab's Pathology Lab Software Supports Lab Report Customization and Client Preferences
Compliance
LigoLab automates compliance verification at every stage, reducing audit risks and revenue loss by ensuring clinicians work within Good Lab Practices regulations (e.g., CAP, CLIA, HIPAA). This saves staff time daily and reduces the time needed to prepare for inspections and audits.
Get Insight: Reducing Risk in the Modern Laboratory: A Comprehensive Approach
Extensive Customer Support
LigoLab understands the evolving needs of clinical laboratories and pathology groups by providing tailored customer support and training designed to maximize workflow efficiency through automation. The LIS company supports a wide range of users and delivers in-depth training that empowers lab directors and managers to take ownership of platform configuration and customization. Moreover, responsive technical support is readily available to assist clinicians and laboratory staff, ensuring continued performance and confidence in daily operations.
Learn More: Navigating the Future of Pathology - The LigoLab Advantage
Laboratory Revenue Cycle Management (lab RCM)
LigoLab’s integrated LIS system and embedded laboratory billing module create powerful opportunities for laboratories to expand revenue streams and scale efficiently. Because both clinical and financial workflows operate on the same database and LIS software infrastructure, data silos are eliminated, and revenue cycle management (lab RCM) processes are integrated from the moment an order is created, an essential advantage for reducing denials and improving financial performance.
With real-time monitoring and validation applied at every stage of the lab billing lifecycle, errors are identified and corrected upstream rather than discovered after claims are submitted. This continuous “error scrubbing” significantly reduces downstream rework and denial risk. LigoLab’s automated, regulation-compliant lab revenue cycle management module requires minimal administrative intervention while providing full visibility into claims status, enabling laboratories to manage billing operations more efficiently and with greater confidence.
Digitally Transform and Grow with a Modern Laboratory Information System Solution
The unlimited interoperability and customization embedded within the LigoLab platform provide customers with unique opportunities to expand their lab’s business despite industry-wide staff shortages. Moreover, by incorporating a highly customized and automated lab workflow to deliver error-free reports, LigoLab’s clinical and pathology lab management solution helps medical labs retain customers (and go after new ones) as their test menus expand and their businesses grow.
On-Demand Webinar: Leverage LIS System Rules, Automation, and Data Analytics to Increase Efficiency and Cut Costs
Still Think All LIS Systems Are the Same?
“If a medical lab thinks laboratory information systems are commodities and all the same, it’s in for a shock,” said Suren Avunjian (LigoLab CEO since jointly founding the company in 2006).
See How an Advanced LIS System Can Transform Your Laboratory
Ready to experience the performance, control, and scalability an advanced LIS system can bring to your laboratory? Now is the time to contact LigoLab for a brief consultation and learn how a modern, all-in-one LIS platform can support your operational and financial goals.
