Rules-based systems allow the user to specify fixed responses from the software system in response to a wide range of results. The customizable rules-based systems offered by several manufacturers provide an extension of the flexibility offered by Web-based reporting. Mike Pauper, user interface manager for eTeleNext Inc, says that the company’s outreach package reflects its support for a Virtual LIS that “allows labs to select modular components to extend the life of their legacy systems or replace their system entirely with the eTeleNext Web-based LIS.” Other outreach systems include Orchard Software’s (Carmel, Ind) Harvest Webstation module and eTeleNext Inc’s (Mission Viejo, Calif) physician office lab-link software packages. According to Erika Schonberg, marketing director for Psyche Systems, this hosted system “offers laboratories flexible, Web-deployable laboratory systems that feature a modular design to adapt to specialized testing needs.” Additionally, Psyche Systems’ eXerva™ hosting services offer network-based utilization of the company’s LabWeb system in addition to its WindoPath™ anatomic pathology information system, Systematic Blood Bank (SBB) transfusion service software, and the e.lixa LIS add-on suite. Similarly, Psyche System’s (Milford, Mass) LabWeb™ LIS and Impac Medical Systems’ (Mountain View, Calif) IntelliLab® LIS offer Web-based result reporting. According to Gilbert Hakim, CEO of SCC Soft Computer, “The incorporation of Web-native applications in our Outreach product, SoftWeb, allows remote, anytime, anywhere access to results, order entry, and more, all via the Internet.” SCC Soft Computer (Palm Harbor, Fla) has programmed real-time results access into its SoftWeb Laboratory Outreach Suite, designed for clinics and physicians’ offices. Also, laboratories are increasingly moving their results reporting to Web-based systems so that results are available on demand to anyone with Internet access. As stated previously, companies are adopting electronic systems for enhancing laboratory communications and maintaining patient information. Perhaps the most prevalent trend in the current market is the ever-increasing emphasis on connectivity. CLP recently asked several leading software manufacturers to give us their impressions of current products, market trends, challenges facing laboratorians, and the future of clinical laboratory software. Accordingly, several companies have developed clinical lab software solutions in the form of laboratory information systems (LIS) to simplify laboratory requisitions, test management, and the reporting of results. Still, while the clinical laboratory has been made more efficient in the digital age, the rapid pace of technological advancement has also made its management more challenging. The reporting of results, once limited by the speed of the US Postal Service or the give-and-take of phone tag, can now be conducted instantly via email. Tests that once had to be conducted manually (and laboriously) can now be queued and managed by automated workstations.
Patient records that were once kept in triplicate on paper forms and confined to whatever folder they happened to reside in are now recorded electronically for easy access and sharing of information. It goes without saying that the computer has revolutionized the clinical laboratory.