Use of the LIS Functionality Assessment Toolkit: A Methodology for Assessing LIS Functionality and Enabling Comparisons Among Competing Systems

Permission is hereby granted for the reproduction and use of this document for all educational and non-commercial purposes.Acknowledgements This LIS functionality toolkit project was conceived during the Strategic Summit, a conference presented by the Association for Pathology Informatics (API) on June 8, 2012, in Pittsburgh. This event was planned and convened to discuss the future of laboratory information systems (LISs) and pathology informatics in an era when electronic health records (EHRs) seem to dominate the hospital IT landscape. The conference was generously underwritten primarily by four healthcare software vendors, Following the Strategic Summit, a project was launched by the API leadership to address the critical issue of how pathologists and other lab professionals can assess the functionality of an LIS prior to its purchase. A key underlying assumption with regard to this project is that optimizing LIS functionality is a necessary goal in order to enhance the productivity and efficiency of pathology and the clinical labs as well as that of the health systems of which they are a part. This report, plus its three appendices, is the product of this initiative. It is our intention to also write an article discussing the future of the LIS for submission to the Journal of Pathology Informatics. We are deeply appreciative of the support of the companies that have underwritten this work as well as the products and services that they provide for the industry. Executive Summary Assessing the total functionality of a laboratory information system (LIS) prior to purchase is a critical first step for ensuring long-term satisfaction with the product and optimizing the work of pathology and the clinical laboratories. The advantages of working with an LIS with maximum functionality are numerous. First, the deployment of such an LIS will result in lower labor costs for the labs that, in turn, will result in a lower cost-pertest for the department of pathology. A second advantage is that a high quality LIS serves as a guide for optimized laboratory workflow which results in greater work efficiency and higher quality and lower costs. A third factor is the impending threat of a medical technologist shortage such that skilled laboratory personnel will be increasingly hard to recruit even if sufficient funds are available to hire them. Lab automation plus a highly functional LIS can serve as a substitute for labor.The goal of this report is to provide lab professionals with a toolkit for …