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 Clinical Data Management: Why
Clinical Labs are Choosing LIMS over LIS
Traditionally, Laboratory Information Systems (LIS)-which
lack the extensive management functionality of a LIMS-have been sufficient
for most clinical applications. Yet in the past few years, a growing
number of clinical laboratories have chosen LIMS over LIS. This raises
important questions about the difference between the two types of systems,
and the contribution that full-fledged LIMS can make in a clinical
setting. At least four important considerations are clear:
It goes without saying that clinical tests are becoming
increasingly complex-largely to support growth in predictive and
personalized medicine which relies heavily on molecular diagnostics and
PCR technologies.. Such complex testing drives the need for flexible and
powerful laboratory workflow management tools, such as those offered by
LIMS.
 LIMS helps clinical labs to become more efficient
and nimble. LIMS that offer customer configuration
make it easier to optimize workflows to meet emerging requirements. Labs
that can carry out such software configuration changes independently of
software vendors are at a decided advantage.
LIMS
makes clinical lab information available throughout the organization
and supply chain
Patients and health care professionals have growing
expectations to obtain lab data in a rapid and convenient way. LIMS that
are based on Web technologies enable labs to share their data securely,
quickly and effectively-with users throughout the supply chain. Advanced
LIMS that are built from the ground up as a web system provide a better
platform for the future than a legacy LIS with a “bolted on” web
interface.
Clinical laboratories must have modern interoperability tools available to effectively and securely manage the exchange of
protected health information while coping with changes driven by clinical laboratory consolidation and the resulting growth in the use of reference labs, the emergence of regional healthcare clusters (RHIOs), increasing public health reporting requirements and emerging messaging standards such as HL7 CDA. LIMS have powerful interoperability tools such as web services and XML messaging in addition to HL7, API, ODBC, OLE, OLE-DB, and flat file exchange.
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