New Ebook: Why You Don’t Need an LIS

We have found that many primary care practices throughout the United States think they need a laboratory information system (LIS) to manage their point-of-care testing (POCT) workflows. However, LIS are completely unsuitable for use in this sector. We have published an ebook that tells you exactly why this is a bad idea and how you can go about sourcing an alternative solution. In the ebook, we explore why LIS don’t work in primary care, what primary care needs in order to run POCT more effectively, and how Relaymed is designed to address these issues.

LabDaq, Orchard Harvest, Sunquest and Epic’s Beaker extension are common versions of an LIS that are regularly sought as the answer. However, every one of these options is too expensive and complex for use in primary care and don’t cater to this sector’s true needs.

LIS are effective in managing POC workflows in acute care and laboratory settings, as these are environments that LIS were specifically designed for. Primary care is totally different, in many ways. Aside from several issues pertaining to the user experience, an LIS goes far beyond the specific POCT needs of a primary care practice – tantamount to using a sledgehammer to crack a nut.

So what are the problems that arise from using an LIS?

The Key Issues

Implementing an LIS in a primary care setting is problematic for the following reasons:

• High cost
• They are bloated with features that are unnecessary in a primary care environment
• Requirement for new hardware
• They are complex, meaning a sound knowledge of IT is required
• Lengthy implementation period
• Requirement for project resources
• Ongoing maintenance overhead
• It takes a long time to garner an ROI – if ever
• There is no option to try it on a single device or location first of all, allowing you to scale up as your needs change
• Staff require detailed training to use them

The need to stay on top of all these factors leads many to believe that an LIS is required to remain compliant with regulation, especially in the face of running non-waived testing (such as hematology analysis) from a primary care practice. This is bogus information.

The Needs of Primary Care

As Relaymed is specifically designed for use in primary care, we have researched this market extensively to understand exactly what is needed in order to manage POCT effectively.

Manual data entry is one of the key issues that primary care practices are faced with in their POCT workflow. It is a laborious and error-ridden process which acts as a bottleneck in the process of rooming patients and leads to error in record keeping. This reduces clinical effectiveness and creates problems with compliance when audits come around. In order to avoid these pitfalls, practices can automate the process by connecting each of their POC devices directly to the EHR. This is the number one need of primary care practices as it vastly improves practice efficiency and delivers 100% accuracy in record keeping.

Beyond automation, there are several other critical requirements a practice may have for effective POCT management in primary care, including quality controls and reference ranges.

Enter Relaymed

Relaymed is a new product category, which brings the benefits of lab workflow automation and management to the primary care market. As our solution was designed specifically for primary care, it provides only the features of an LIS that are required in this setting. By utilizing modern cloud-based technologies, we are able to eradicate the massive expenses of hardware and implementation that come with an LIS. This allows us to offer Relaymed on affordable monthly subscription plans, without compromising the security of your data. No upfront fees, no implementation fees.

Download the ebook today to find out more about why Relaymed is the answer to your LIS woes.