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Four Game-Changing Business Strategies to Improve Laboratory Processes
July 16, 2024
No matter the business type, one thing is abundantly clear. Your organization doesn’t operate in a vacuum but in a world where outside influences and variables can and do affect its trajectory.
For instance, just because something worked well in the past doesn’t mean it will continue to do so in the future. That’s because businesses are competitive by nature and circumstances change, making it essential for an enterprise to constantly look for innovative ways to enhance efficiency, reduce costs, differentiate, and improve overall performance.
Take the medical lab and its current challenges as a prime example. Gone are the days of abundant margins and available market shares, replaced by rate cuts pushed by government and private payers, consolidation among providers, and increased competition to gain and retain customers, all while compliance costs continue to rise amidst disruption caused by an unprecedented labor shortage.
These negative trends are troubling but lab operators of clinical labs and pathology practices can protect themselves and even take advantage of the disruption by committing to four game-changing business strategies that can vastly improve a lab’s outlook and prepare it for a profitable future.
Modernize Processes
Modernizing clinical lab workflow is a great place to start. This strategy entails extracting processes from legacy environments and re-platforming them onto more advanced and efficient technologies.
A common and effective example of modernization is upgrading one’s laboratory information system (LIS abbreviation medical; LIS software) technology.
Today’s medical lab landscape is constantly evolving. The only way to keep pace and thrive is to swap out legacy laboratory information system software with advanced pathology software platforms designed by the best LIS software vendors to overcome modern challenges.
Legacy LIS systems are rigid, requiring workarounds (which equals more labor) and additional software systems (which equals more integration), data silos, and costs. On top of that, they are unreliable (prone to breaking down) and lack the features and functionality required to be competitive and grow. Compare that with advanced LIS systems engineered to be comprehensive, configurable, and bring innovation into the lab.
The best LIS systems are cloud-based platforms that streamline and simplify workflow. They are also highly interoperable with other laboratory software systems and much more reliable than their legacy brethren. These are key factors for any lab looking to modernize, grow volumes, add new customers, and serve their community better.
Learn More: Laboratory Information Systems Are Not Commodities!
Optimize Processes
Advanced laboratory information system software technology can also serve as a central, consolidated hub for optimizing processes. This strategy refers to leveraging predictive analytics and simulations to run what-if scenarios across all processes to identify areas prime for optimization before implementing the changes.
The best LIS systems expertly manage lab data from the point of sample collection to the moment the finalized report has been delivered to the clinician. These lab information systems make pre-analytical automation, streamlined sample tracking, and seamless data transfer and communication with hospital and clinic electronic health record (EHR) systems all possible.
Just as important, the data housed in these modern LIS systems is much more accessible than in legacy LIS, empowering lab directors and managers to analyze the data and make high-level and low-level process changes to improve efficiency, accuracy, and turnaround times while reducing waste and diagnostic errors.
The best laboratory information system software allows processes to be regularly optimized for peak performance and productivity.
Learn More: Understanding the Importance of Real-Time Analytics in the Modern Clinical Laboratory
Standardize Processes
Standardizing processes as a strategy focuses on continually improving consistency and quality within the lab. In simple terms, if a process has shown to be efficient and accurate, take the necessary steps as an organization to standardize this process.
The workflow analysis functionality embedded within robust and modern laboratory information systems helps develop and standardize workflow in two ways. First by providing lab leadership with mapping and tools to analyze the data, and second, by storing and managing standardized best practices that ensure every test is performed according to approved procedures.
The best LIS software helps with efforts to standardize by powering automation (more on that in a moment). They also make the standardization of data entry and reporting templates possible, manage quality control across all tests and instruments, and ensure compliance with all regulatory standards.
In addition to a high-performance lab information system, leadership can take further steps to standardize such as developing and regularly updating Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), introducing Lean Management techniques, and engaging staff with continuous improvement and cross-training programs.
Learn More: How Best Practices and Advanced Laboratory Information System Technology Help Ensure Lab Workflow Management
Automate Processes
We’ve saved the best for last because, in modern labs, automation is a prerequisite for success.
Innovative laboratory information system vendors have created modern LIS systems designed to automate several critical aspects of laboratory operations.
An advanced medical LIS with a custom rule engine and automation engine creates the desired workflow automation that reduces labor, improves accuracy, and speeds up processes, all of which help talented laboratory staff to concentrate on more complex tasks that require their expertise.
Learn More: The Rule Engine in LigoLab’s Advanced Pricing Tier Offers Unprecedented Control
The rule engine allows LIS staffing to build and support as many rules and preferences as needed, and the automation engine strings these rules together, giving LIS system users unlimited configurability and control of operational (and laboratory billing) workflow.
Learn More: LigoLab’s Enterprise Tier Features a Sophisticated Automation Engine
Here are a few examples of processes that can be automated with a rule engine::
- Reflex Testing: The rule engine can automatically reflex additional tests based on specific results, ensuring fast and efficient processing without manual intervention.
- Workflow Changes: Rules can dynamically adjust the clinical lab workflow of specific samples based on various parameters, optimizing operations according to the lab's needs.
- Document Generation: Rules can trigger the creation of specific documents, be it reports, notifications, or requisitions, based on defined conditions.
- CPT Coding: Rules can be created that automatically assign or adjust CPT codes based on the specifics of the test or service performed, ensuring accurate lab billing and compliance.
- External System Calls: The rule engine can interact with external laboratory software systems, allowing seamless integration and coordination with other software or services.
- Case Flagging: The rule engine can flag cases, tests, samples, patients, or clients that meet specific criteria, signaling them for further attention or action, such as a customer service intervention.
It should be noted that the power of automation in a modern lab extends well beyond the examples listed above.
Here’s an additional list of lab workflow at various stages highlighting how automation reduces costs and contributes to greater lab productivity in a modern medical lab.
Sample Tracking and Management: An advanced LIS system can automate the barcode tracking of a sample from reception to result, tracking the journey and updating the status throughout the process.
Automated Data Entry: The best LIS can connect directly to electronic health records and laboratory instruments, allowing the automatic capture and recording of order and test results directly into the system without data entry and transcription errors.
Workflow Optimization: An advanced medical LIS can automate the routing of samples to the appropriate instruments or departments based on predefined criteria such as test type, priority, or specific patient requirements. This aids in lab workflow optimization, ensuring that resources aren’t wasted and turnaround times are lessened.
Quality Control Checks: LIS system software can automate the scheduling and execution of quality control checks, plus automatically flag results that do not meet quality standards, leading to an automatic review of the case followed by necessary actions.
Decision Support: Modern LIS medical solutions can incorporate decision support tools that automatically interpret results based on set thresholds and clinical guidelines. This helps by providing preliminary interpretations that often make accurate diagnoses faster.
Reporting and Notification: The best LIS systems can automate report generation once results are finalized. It can also automatically notify clinicians via email, SMS, or directly through integrated electronic health records (EHRs) when results are available, speeding up the communication process.
Billing and Reimbursement: Automation can even extend to the laboratory billing process with the most advanced LIS systems that also feature an in-house laboratory revenue cycle management (lab RCM) solution. In this all-in-one scenario, laboratory billing moves from a backend mostly manual to a frontend and highly automated process where CPT and ICD coding is automated and claims receive validation and error correction scrubbing before being submitted to the appropriate billing departments or external insurance systems, drastically reducing administrative workload and errors.
Maintenance Scheduling: Modern LIS systems can monitor the usage of instruments and automatically schedule maintenance or recalibration. This prevents downtime and ensures that all instruments are operating at optimal levels.
Compliance and Auditing: The best LIS can automatically log all actions and changes inputted into the system, a huge help for compliance with regulatory agencies. This feature simplifies the auditing process, ensuring that labs are following requirements and ready to demonstrate compliance when called upon.
Integration with Hospitals and Health Systems: An advanced LIS system features robust integration capabilities, enabling automated data exchange across platforms with their clinician customers. This ensures consistency and accuracy in patient records and timely lab results deliveries across all departments.
Process Improvement Starts with Advanced Laboratory Information System Software
With negative trends persisting and the demand for faster and more accurate diagnoses growing throughout the industry, it’s time for lab leaders to embrace process improvement strategies supported by advanced LIS system technology. By doing so, they’ll be properly positioned to meet current needs and challenges and be prepared for future opportunities.
Selecting your LIS system provider means choosing a partner dedicated to the success of your laboratory. It means adopting a modern system that offers adaptability, control, and the ability to respond to future changes.
Ready to see how an advanced LIS system can support your lab goals?
