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How Modern Laboratory Information Systems Can Protect Against External Threats Like Labor Shortages
May 30, 2025
Editor’s Note: This is part three of a series focused on laboratory staffing challenges and how the best laboratory information system software can help overcome them.
Welcome to part three of our blog series exploring how to overcome today’s toughest laboratory staffing challenges. In this installment, we share expert insights from three seasoned professionals who offer real-world strategies for growing and scaling clinical laboratories and pathology practices, despite the ongoing shortage of qualified medical lab technologists across the industry.
In part one of our series, we sat down with Dr. James Crawford, Senior Vice President for Laboratory Services at Northwell Health, who shared his thoughts on recruitment, compensation, career advancement, and process improvements.
In part two of the series, Bri Spencer, Molecular Lab Manager at Avero Diagnostics, shared insights into how labs can leverage advanced laboratory information system (LIS) technology to automate redundant manual processes, streamline laboratory workflow management, and improve the quality of services rendered.
In the final chapter of our series, we’ve turned to Joseph Guido, an anatomic pathology lab consultant and former lab IT Director with loads of experience using pathology LIS systems. In this chapter, Guido discusses the growing importance of LIS pathology software in healthcare.
Case Study: A Conversation With LIS System Administrator Kristie Becerra
Why Pathology Lab Management Teams are Under Pressure
The COVID-19 pandemic served as a powerful reminder of the importance of anytime, anywhere access to critical information, especially in healthcare.
For medical laboratories, it underscored the urgent need for remote, digital-first collaboration. Even when lab staff couldn’t be onsite, the demand for accurate and timely test results never stopped. Lab leaders quickly recognized that modern diagnostic lab software must ensure seamless access and delivery of results, because in most cases, these results drive the decisions that shape patient care.
Approximately 70 percent of today’s medical decisions are based on lab test results. However, producing these results quickly and accurately is becoming increasingly difficult. That’s because an ever-growing number of patients and available assays have created a perfect storm with more specimens headed to the lab from one year to the next.
Adding pressure to an already stressed industry is the fact that staffing numbers aren’t keeping up with the rising test demand. Some estimate that the industry is short 20,000 to 25,000 laboratory technologists.
On-Demand Webinar: Beat Pathologist Burnout & Combat Staffing Shortages
How a Modern Laboratory Information System Relieves LIS Staffing Stress
When asked about the current industry hiring and staffing crisis, Guido explained that the long-term solution to the problem must include advancing laboratory information systems (LIS software) and informatics.
“Implementing the right LIS system technology is the best way for labs to streamline their operations,” he said. “From the preanalytical phase, all the way through to post-analytical, a modern medical LIS system can help lab directors and managers fill the gaps created by LIS staffing shortages.”
The lab information system is diagnostic lab software that removes bottlenecks, organizes data, and supports core processes like sample tracking, processing, and reporting. Modern laboratory information systems also offer outreach solutions, laboratory billing solutions (laboratory revenue cycle management), and patient engagement applications such as direct-to-consumer lab testing.
These next-gen laboratory software systems are supported by rules and automation, creating a new level of efficiency that cannot be attained with labor-intensive workflows.
Learn More: What To Do When Your Laboratory Information System Is Sunsetting
Modern Laboratory Information Systems Will Drive Future Lab Workflow
Before moving into the consulting world, Guido spent several years with an anatomic pathology group in Colorado, where he started as an accessioner, then moved into grossing, before ultimately becoming the group’s IT Director.
As he climbed the ladder and moved into pathology lab management, Guido took it upon himself to understand the technology behind the group’s LIS laboratory information system. He sensed that a lot of power behind the LIS lab solution wasn’t being utilized and took it upon himself to learn more.
His curiosity led to an ongoing dialogue between himself and the group’s medical LIS pathology partner, LigoLab. Soon, Guido was spearheading the implementation of anatomic pathology LIS workflow changes that he believed would play a large role in the group’s business growth, helping solidify relationships with the lab’s hospital clients.
According to Guido, advanced laboratory information system technology is the long-term solution to the current staffing challenges all anatomic pathology groups and clinical laboratories face.
“The workforce gaps make it clear that lab information system technological advances will drive the lab of the future,” he said. “At some point soon, LIS lab automation will be a tool we all use, regardless of the department or role.
Learn More: Automation in Pathology Labs Using Advanced LIS System Software
Removing Redundant, Manual Processes with LIS System Automation
With a focus on anatomic pathology workflow, Guido noted that changes are already evident and that more will come soon, thanks to necessity and innovation.
He referenced electronic health records/electronic medical records (EHRs & EMRs) and patient engagement/patient portal platforms as vehicles that have effectively replaced manual order entry and drastically improved the integrity of the data going into and out of modern laboratory information systems.
Guido said consistent data going into the lab information system is a first step, and that the architecture and flexibility of the LIS software are both critically important at this stage.
“With the best laboratory information system software, you can set up a validation step based on rules at accessioning,” he said. “This opens the door to customization and client preferences, with the accessioner taking on a quality assurance role before sending the specimen to grossing.”
Guido also mentioned other examples of laboratory information systems replacing or minimizing other manual lab roles. His examples included LIS system integrations to support the automated embedding of specimens and voice-to-text systems (pathology dictation software) that enable the repurposing of transcriptionists to other roles. He also referenced digital pathology.
Industry Insights: Digital Pathology Redefined: Uniting AI, Viewers, and a Robust LIS System for a Seamless Workflow
Adding Digital Pathology to LIS Pathology Workflow
Guido is currently consulting an entirely digital anatomic pathology group, thus enabling the group to have pathologists in every time zone and even on multiple continents. He said the key to this arrangement, and others like it, is having a laboratory information system that excels in interoperability and fully integrates with various digital pathology solutions.
“When a lab’s processes become digitized, and its medical laboratory solutions become interoperable and connected within an integrated laboratory information system workflow, several manual processes can be removed from the equation,” said Guido. “This helps eliminate inefficiencies and redundancies and improves a lab’s quality of work. A highly functional LIS system is what makes this possible.”
Guido said laboratory information system software should serve as the centerpiece of a digital pathology ecosystem, with this arrangement offering the following advantages:
- More precise interpretations
- Faster diagnoses
- Improved collaboration
- Fewer human errors
- Less costly over time
Case Study: Pathology Lab Management 2025 Guide: The Future of Digital Pathology
The Importance of Technical Knowledge and LIS System Support
“This is the future five to 10 years from now. This is where we’ll see the most advancement in anatomic pathology software,” added Guido.
For pathology labs to ensure their future viability, hiring tech-friendly personnel will take on more importance.
“One of the biggest areas of concern is the shortage of technology leaders who understand how the technology within the lab works,” he said. “Labs need to hire these roles or create an ecosystem where current staff can be developed to fill critical roles like the LIS System Manager.”
Guido added that deploying a laboratory information system that’s truly supported by the LIS company with ongoing training will also have lasting benefits.
“Most often, the limiting factors are how well laboratory personnel understand the pathology software, how well the laboratory has designed its lab workflow, and how much the company supports the medical LIS system.”
Learn More: What You Need to Know Before Contracting with a Laboratory Information System (LIS) Company
With the LigoLab Informatics Platform and other like-minded LIS software vendors producing modern pathology LIS systems, lab directors and managers can build their digital pathology capabilities from a solid foundation while gaining an ally in their fight against staffing shortages.
Learn More: Navigating the Future of Pathology: The LigoLab Advantage
How the LigoLab Platform Supports Digital Pathology
“An ideal digital pathology ecosystem is one where all of a lab’s software systems are interoperable, connecting as an integrated digital lab workflow,” said Guido.
LigoLab was ahead of the curve in integrating digital pathology solutions, recognizing early on that enhanced efficiency, faster and smarter case allocation, and greater scalability would be key to advancing this critical subspecialty.
For a closer look at how the LigoLab platform integrates with whole-slide imaging (WSI) systems, check out this informative blog post.
Learn More: Best Practices Guide: Managing LIS System Timelines for Vendor Research and Implementation
LigoLab’s Comprehensive LIS System and Lab RCM Platform
LigoLab is an award-winning provider of innovative end-to-end laboratory information system software for medical laboratories, servicing growing facilities and partnerships nationwide.
As a comprehensive enterprise-grade LIS system solution, the LigoLab LIS & RCM Laboratory Informatics Platform™ includes modules for anatomic pathology (LIS pathology), clinical laboratory (LIS medical), molecular diagnostics (LIS molecular), laboratory revenue cycle management (lab RCM), and direct-to-consumer lab testing (TestDirectly and TestDirectly.com), all on a powerful and integrated platform that supports every role, department, and case.
If you are interested in speaking with a laboratory information system specialist to learn how LigoLab’s platform can help protect your enterprise from external threats while preparing it for the future of pathology, feel free to contact us to set up a discovery call.
