Getting Results with Web-based Labs

Welcome to your next issue of the Sage Software eBrief, an update on the latest news, product developments, and tips for bringing your practice into the future with EHR. In this issue, we’ll learn more about how a revolution in processing electronic labs can change the way you manage this vital part of your practice.

Electronic lab requests
Since there have been electronic clinical solutions, there has been a need for electronic lab requests and results. Not only does electronic processing speed the turnaround time of tests that can affect patient care, but it can also reduce costs and help prevent errors. In Linking Health Care Information: Proposed Methods for Improving Care and Protecting Privacy, a report from a Working Group on Accurately Linking Information for Health Care Quality and Safety, one of the participants reported that an audit of expenses across systems in Massachusetts found that 15% of expenses were in running duplicate tests because the early results were unobtainable. (1) According to the 21st Century Health Information Act, 20% of all labs and tests are duplicated because the previous results were unavailable. (2) The Working Group responded to this phenomena, stating "At best this creates enormous waste and additional expense ... At worst, it delays critical diagnosis or exposes patients to invasive procedures unnecessarily."

So, there's the old way ...
Until recently, to send and receive electronic lab test requests and results you had to have an interface to the lab you were using. Often, because practices use more than one lab, there were multiple interfaces. Each interface had to be evaluated and implemented in your practice using the HL7 standard, and if you wanted a new lab, you needed a new interface. Then, each interface had to be maintained. The process could be costly and labor-intensive.

And, there's the new way ...
The old days of individual lab interfaces are over. Today, industry leaders are developing new solutions that enable you to connect to many laboratories with a single connection to the Internet. Sage Software has developed Lab Portal Services for Intergy EHR by Sage, which provides you with the tools you need to not only send test requests electronically, but also access, review and maintain results. Both requests and results are automatically saved in the Intergy EHR patient chart, reducing the problem of lost test requests and results.

With a single Web-based tool, Lab Portal Services enables you to connect with a number of labs through a single interface, and the list of labs is growing everyday. We do the work of developing lab relationships and adding new labs so you don't have to, and if there are specific labs that you want to work with, you can make a request that they be added.

Ready to Get Started?
Want to learn more about how the Intergy EHR with Lab Portal Services can support and transform the way you work? Please call 877.932.6301, Option 1 or complete our Request Info form to schedule your personalized product tour.

Best regards,
Sage Software

(1) Linking Health Care Information: Proposed Methods for Improving Care and Protecting Privacy, Working Group on Accurately Linking Information for Health Care Quality and Safety, Connecting for Health (SM), Markle Foundation a Public-Private Collaborative, February 2005

(2) * According to 21st Century Health Information Act (H.R. 2234)