How Modern Laboratory Information Systems Can Protect Against External Threats Like Labor Shortages

(This is part three of a series focused on laboratory staffing challenges and how laboratory information system software like LigoLab Informatics Platform can help overcome them). 

Welcome to part three of our LigoLab blog series on overcoming laboratory staffing challenges. For this informative series, we interviewed three experts in their respective fields to deliver practical, first-hand advice on scaling and growing your clinical laboratory and pathology practice despite an industry-wide shortage of qualified medical lab technologists.

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 point of view 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 abbreviation medical) 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.  

Learn More: A Conversation With LIS System Administrator Kristie Becerra

Why Pathology Lab Management Teams are Under Pressure

In the wake of the Coronavirus pandemic, an important lesson was relearned, and that’s how critical it is for organizations to access and share information from anywhere at any time. This is especially true for those working in healthcare, particularly laboratory professionals. 

For medical LIS labs, the global pandemic elevated the need for remote, digital-first collaboration. Even when staff cannot enter the lab, the work must continue. Lab leaders understand the pressing need for diagnostic lab software to deliver fast, reliable test results to physicians and patients regardless of the situation. The test results are after all the most vital component for the great majority of healthcare decisions.   

Approximately 70% 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 of 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.  

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 includes advancing laboratory information system (LIS system) technology and laboratory 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 laboratory information system can help lab directors and managers fill the gaps created by LIS staffing shortages.”

A laboratory information system is diagnostic lab software designed to remove bottlenecks, organize data, and improve core processes like sample tracking, processing, and reporting. Modern laboratory information systems also offer outreach solutions, laboratory billing management (lab revenue cycle management), and patient engagement applications (for example: the TestDirectly patient and provider portal for direct-to-consumer lab testing). 

These 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 system software. He sensed a lot of power behind the LIS system 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 partner, LIS company LigoLab Information Systems. Soon, Guido was spearheading the implementation of lab workflow changes that he believed would play a large role in the group’s business growth, helping solidify pathologist relationships with the lab’s physician and hospital clients.

According to Guido, LIS system technology is the long-term solution to the current staffing challenges all anatomic pathology groups and clinical laboratories (including molecular testing labs) face. 

“The workforce gaps make it clear that LIS system technological advances will drive the lab of the future,” he said. “At some point soon, 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, Guido noted that changes are already evident and that more will soon come, born out of necessity and innovation. 

He pointed toward using 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 a modern laboratory information system.

Guido said consistent data going into the lab information system is a big first step and that the architecture and flexibility of the LIS system are both critically important at this stage.

“With the right laboratory information system, 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 system technology replacing or minimizing other manual lab roles. His examples included LIS system integrations to support the automated embedding of specimens and voice-to-text software systems (pathology dictation software) that enable the repurposing of transcriptionists to other roles. He also referenced digital pathology.

Learn More: Digital Pathology: The Future is Here

‍Adding Digital Pathology to LIS Pathology Workflow

Guido is currently consulting an anatomic pathology group that’s gone entirely digital, 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 (LIS software) that excels in interoperability and fully integrates with the digital pathology workflow.

“When a lab’s processes become digitized, and its software systems 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

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 and anatomic pathology software,” added Guido.

For anatomic pathology labs to ensure their future viability as their testing discipline goes through this metamorphosis, hiring tech-friendly personnel will take on even more importance. 

“One of the biggest areas of concern is the shortage of technology leaders that 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 LIS company supports the LIS system and the lab.”

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 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. 

How LigoLab Informatics 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 an early adopter of integrating digital pathology solutions, knowing that benefits like efficiency gains, better and faster case allocation, and improved scalability would ensure the future development of this subspecialty. 

For a closer look at how the LigoLab Informatics Platform integrates with whole slide imaging (WSI) systems like the Philips Imaging Management System (IMS) viewer, check out this informative blog post.

Lastly, if you are interested in speaking with a laboratory information system specialist to learn how LigoLab’s platform can help protect your lab from external threats while preparing it for what the future holds, feel free to contact us to set up a discovery call. 

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 250+ facilities nationwide. 

As a comprehensive enterprise-grade LIS system solution, the LigoLab LIS & RCM Laboratory Informatics Platform™ includes modules for anatomic pathology (LIS pathology), clinical pathology (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. 

LigoLab empowers laboratories to differentiate, scale their operations, and become more compliant and profitable.