UK company X-Lab has launched a successful pilot of its Labgnostic software between TriCore and Arkana Labs to enable interoperability between diagnostic laboratories. X-Lab which owns and operates a systems-agnostic laboratory exchange hub, called Labgnostic, has recently gone 'live' in connecting the first two US laboratories to the network.
New Mexico-based TriCore and Arkansas-based Arkana Labs are the first two laboratories to join the 'lab-to-lab' service and experience faster turnaround times, improved efficiency, cost-effectiveness, and patient safety.
On the news of the go live, X-Lab's CEO, Mat Barrow, said: "We're excited about the go-live between TriCore and Arkana. This represents the first step towards growing a national exchange of laboratories in the US and sharing the benefits which the UK has been experiencing for a long time. As more laboratories join the network, the possibilities of what Labgnostic can offer to the US market will only grow stronger."
Both laboratories will see dramatic changes to the way 'lab-to-lab' referrals work for them, alongside a host of benefits to using the system. Labgnostic enables requests to be automatically sent from the requesting laboratory to the reference laboratory as soon as an order is generated, it enters the reference laboratory's Laboratory Information System (LIS) and, when a sample arrives, it can proceed to testing straight away and, when a result it generated, this will be sent back to the requester via Labgnostic almost immediately.
TriCore, an independent, regional laboratory, which already receives 12 million samples per year, is aiming to create efficiencies for this business and increase capacity for new business from referring laboratories:
- Electronic interfaces allow TriCore to be more accessible to other laboratories
- TriCore is aiming to set up four electronic interfaces direct to their partner labs this year
- Each interface would only be used for around 1,000 specimens per year
- Each interface costs around $25,000 with $3,000-5,000 annual maintenance fees
- Labgnostic can enable TriCore access to a network of laboratories via a single interface to exchange samples with any other lab on the network, for a fraction of the cost.
- TriCore also sends 14% of its tests to other labs, one of which is Arkana
- Currently, TriCore needs to transcribe the results for around 30% of the samples it receives, which equates to 3.6 million results per year.
Arkana, a specialty laboratory, is also looking to improve its business operations via electronic connectivity between laboratories:
- Many of Arkana's samples arrive, without prior warning, on a paper form which needs to be manually transcribed into the Arkana Laboratory Information System (LIS)
- Arkana receives around 3000 samples per month which equates to over 100 biopsies per day
- These 100 biopsies come from around 50 different sources, meaning that only around two samples per day come from each sender
- Arkana often has to chase missing patient information to ensure they can bill patients or insurers for their work.
- In the current workflow, results are sent back to the customer via email or fax where the customer manually transcribes the results back into their LIS or EMR.
- With Labgnostic, Arkana will be adding the capability for electronic workflows for internal and external stakeholders.
- Arkana are experiencing 14% year-on-year growth in use of their service, Labgnostic will help free up capacity to further enable this.
- Labgnostic can enable Arkana to meet their goal of same-day turnaround times and their goal of 20% of all orders being electronic by 2024.
The Labgnostic team is still looking for US laboratories to join their network as early adopters. If you think your laboratory might benefit from the service then please email Aaron Green, Head of North America ([email protected]).
For more information, visit www.x-labsystems.com/products/labgnostic.
