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How to Turn Your Mid-Sized Medical Laboratory into a Thriving Large-Scale Operation
June 11, 2026
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It didn't happen overnight, but thanks to your business acumen and a strong support team, your start-up anatomic pathology practice or reference laboratory has matured into a successful business with a solid client base and an equally solid reputation.
Congratulations are in order. It was no small achievement, especially given the challenges facing laboratories today. Rising costs, staffing shortages, complex regulations, revenue pressure, and increased competition have made success harder than ever. Yet your lab navigated it all through sound planning, timely decisions, and strong execution.
The journey from start-up to established was challenging enough. If the goal now is to evolve from a mid-sized laboratory into a thriving large-scale operation, new obstacles and risks will emerge. With that in mind, here are several recommendations to help support your growth and expansion plans.
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Avoid Paralysis by Laboratory Analysis
The Challenge of Consensus-Driven Decision-Making
As a start-up with a much smaller staff, management likely made decisions after gathering input from colleagues. Engaging all stakeholders affected by a planned change is a common and accepted practice in change management doctrine. But what if this collective engagement fails to reach consensus and instead creates decision-making paralysis?
An interesting article in the Harvard Business Review, Leading a Midsize Business Through Change, touched on this topic. Author Ron Ashkenas, a Partner Emeritus at Schaffer Consulting and co-author of the Harvard Business Review Leader's Handbook, argued that it is human nature to view change through a "will this be good or bad for me and my team" lens. As the number of stakeholders increases, decision-making becomes more complex and time-consuming.
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Where Mid-Sized Companies Get Stuck
Ashkenas drew a clear line between sharing opinions and making decisions, and said this is exactly where many mid-sized companies get stuck. In his view, a small group, typically the CEO and a few trusted executives, should make strategic decisions. Once leaders make those decisions, a broader team can work together to communicate and implement them.
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Guiding Principles for Major Change
Ashkenas ended his article with two guiding principles for mid-sized companies that value engagement:
Principle 1: Be clear about whether you are involving people for input or asking them to make a decision.
Principle 2: Ensure there is a dedicated leader who stays closely involved throughout the process.
Applying Ashkenas’ Principles to Clinical and Pathology Lab Management
With nearly two decades of experience in this space, LigoLab has worked with many labs like yours, growing businesses on the verge of greatness, provided they make the right decisions going forward. Based on our experiences and best practices, we recommend the Ashkenas approach to decision-making: effectively communicate the plan to all stakeholders at every stage, and leave all mission-critical decisions up to a small, experienced leadership team.
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We’ve Been There Before
Lessons From Healthline Clinical Laboratories
As founders of LigoLab, Edward Kharatian and Suren Avunjian can relate to your current situation. Before founding their laboratory information system (LIS) company in 2006, they worked together at Healthline Clinical Laboratories, where Edward served as CIO and Suren ran the lab's IT department. They leveraged the clinical and pathology lab software available at the time to grow the business, eventually making it the largest privately held lab in California.
Technology was a powerful enabler, but as the lab scaled, piecemeal solutions resulted in multiple lab vendors. The company evolved from an innovative market leader into an organization focused primarily on maintaining legacy systems.
The lessons learned at Healthline helped shape LigoLab's founding vision: the advantages of an integrated and unified lab organization software system over a fragmented collection of tools.
Stop Building a Laboratory Information System Monster
Over many years of service, LigoLab has identified several common trends that labs must address to modernize, grow efficiently, and achieve their goals.
Ask yourself these questions:
- Is your lab using multiple disparate laboratory software systems, LIS systems, electronic health records, and laboratory billing systems to complete clinical laboratory workflows?
- How many diagnostic lab software systems are you currently using, and do they integrate smoothly and without data silos?
- What happens when something goes wrong, and multiple lab vendors point fingers instead of taking responsibility?
- Are you still logging QA and QC items on paper or spreadsheets?
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Why a Unified Platform Is the Answer
Many laboratory organizations have outgrown their original laboratory information systems and, over time, assembled a patchwork of disconnected applications, interfaces, and manual workarounds. Maintaining these integrations is costly and complex, often resulting in data inconsistencies, operational inefficiencies, and limited visibility across the organization.
That is why a unified, all-in-one medical LIS software solution such as the LigoLab Informatics Platform is so valuable. It unites all departments and roles, creating a single source of lab database software for all laboratory operations.
LigoLab streamlines workflows, promotes efficiency, and supports growth. Without a highly efficient LIS medical platform, it becomes difficult for a laboratory to overcome operational barriers or scale quickly and sustainably.
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What the Platform Includes in LigoLab's All-in-One Platform
LigoLab's comprehensive laboratory information system software platform includes over a dozen embedded modules integral to success, including an Integration Engine, Laboratory Outreach Solutions, Document Scanning, Sendout Management, Laboratory Customer Service Software, Business Intelligence, Rules and Automation, and more. All the modules work in tandem to provide a holistic LIS lab solution tailored to meet the needs of modern anatomic pathology practices and clinical laboratories.
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The Difference Between LIS Vendors and Laboratory Informatics Partners
A Word of Caution When Evaluating Laboratory Information System Companies
As your leadership team begins researching laboratory information systems and speaking with leading LIS software vendors, be aware of a common pattern. Legacy laboratory information system companies often rely on large marketing budgets and flashy presentations, requiring substantial upfront capital for the LIS software license and adding hidden fees for additional seats and modules as the laboratory grows. With this setup, the legacy LIS lab vendor is paid upfront and has little incentive to listen to feedback or make improvements that support the lab's growth.
The LigoLab Difference
LigoLab's approach is fundamentally different. The cost of LigoLab's laboratory information system software license directly aligns with the lab's testing volume and long-term goals. No large upfront capital is required, and LIS model pricing for the license is tiered to ensure a tailored fit and maximum value.
This positions your lab for immediate success, with no penalty for growth. The LigoLab license includes the full LIS software solution with no extra charges for adding modules or seats.
A Partnership Built on Innovation
This partnership approach is also evident in research and development. LigoLab firmly believes in the power of innovation and continually enhances its platform's offerings, ensuring that its customers can meet current demands and adapt to future changes in an industry that’s constantly evolving.
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Ready to Build a Future-Ready Lab?
Make informed decisions with a vendor who understands what is at stake. Schedule a 15-minute discovery call with a LigoLab product specialist and see how our platform supports customers from implementation to go-live and beyond.
Don’t Wait: Connect with a LigoLab Product Specialist Today!
Frequently Asked Questions About Scaling a Medical Laboratory and Choosing the Best LIS System
What are the biggest challenges when scaling a mid-sized lab into a large-scale operation?
The most common challenges include decision-making paralysis as more stakeholders become involved in strategic choices, operational inefficiencies from using multiple disconnected laboratory software systems, data silos created by interfaces between disparate platforms, difficulty finding and retaining qualified staff, and the financial burden of legacy LIS systems that penalize labs for growth through hidden fees and per-module charges.
How should lab leadership approach major strategic decisions?
Ron Ashkenas of Schaffer Consulting recommends that a small group, typically the CEO and a few trusted executives, make strategic decisions. At the same time, leaders engage broader teams for communication and implementation rather than decision-making itself. Labs should be clear about whether they are gathering input or making a decision, and ensure a dedicated leader remains closely involved throughout any major change process.
What is a "laboratory information system monster" and how can labs avoid it?
A lab information system monster is what happens when a growing lab pieces together multiple disconnected diagnostic lab software systems, LIS platforms, EHRs, laboratory billing systems, and middleware to manage different aspects of operations. The resulting interfaces are expensive to maintain, prone to data inconsistencies, and create situations in which multiple vendors point fingers rather than take responsibility. Labs can avoid this by investing in a unified, all-in-one LIS software platform that manages all departments from a single source of truth.
What should labs look for when evaluating LIS software vendors?
Labs should look for transparent, volume-based pricing with no large upfront capital requirements, no hidden fees for additional modules or users, a fully integrated platform that covers LIS and lab billing within a single infrastructure, a genuine partnership model where the vendor invests in the lab's long-term success, and a strong track record of supporting labs through implementation, growth, and ongoing platform evolution.
How does LigoLab's pricing model differ from legacy LIS vendors?
LigoLab's pricing is tiered and aligned directly with the lab's testing volume, eliminating large upfront capital investments and hidden fees for adding seats or modules. It means labs are never financially penalized for growing. The license includes the full medical LIS solution from day one, and the partnership bundles all future upgrades, ongoing support, and training.
What modules does LigoLab's all-in-one platform include?
LigoLab's platform includes over a dozen embedded modules, covering Integration Engine, Laboratory Outreach Solutions, Document Scanning, Sendout Management, Laboratory Customer Service Software, Business Intelligence, Rules and Automation, Laboratory Revenue Cycle Management, Direct-to-Consumer Lab Testing via TestDirectly, and more, all operating within the same database and infrastructure to eliminate data silos and synchronization issues.
Why is switching from multiple LIS systems to a unified platform worth the effort?
Interfaces between separate systems are expensive, difficult to maintain, and create data integrity risks. A unified platform eliminates these costs and risks, giving lab leaders a single, reliable source of truth for all operational and financial data. The short-term effort of transitioning pays off quickly in reduced maintenance overhead, improved efficiency, higher clean claim rates, and the ability to scale confidently without the constraints of legacy infrastructure.
