Speed

Speed – we recognize the importance of this attribute in so many areas of life.  Think about it…   It’s something we focus on daily at Pathagility.  How can we deliver value faster?  This is not as easy as it sounds because in our industry (other industries as well), there are so many moving parts – some of…

Is an interface necessary?

It can take many months and thousands of dollars to get a results only interface or bi-directional interface to “go live” from a lab system to an EMR (electronic medical records) or PMS (practice management system).  There are many factors that determine the development effort, length of time, and total price tag. “Is it worth…

Web Browsers and (Lab) System Design

In the recent CAP TODAY, there is a good article in the Newsbytes section called, The conundrum of shortcut keys for Web-based LIS. Being a SaaS product company in the diagnostic arena, we’ve experienced some of these issues while developing to different web browsers (Firefox, IE, Chrome,etc.)  So far, we’ve developed a nice balance of functionality…

Lab-to-EMR interface alternatives

Ever wonder why one EMR vendor charges $10+K and takes 1 year to implement a Lab-to-EMR interface and another EMR vendor charges $3K and takes 3 months?  You aren’t alone.  This is a common question in our industry.  With that said, everyone acknowledges the benefits of interfacing.  As mentioned in a previous post, pathology groups are…

EMR Adoption: The Real Cost of Connectivity.

Cost is always at the top of referring physicians’ list when adopting an EMR solution, and there is no shortage of pricing and package options in the EMR market. EMR adoption continues to rise, and connectivity or interfacing those systems falls next in line on the list of priorities for referring physicians. So when your…

SERVICE – 1 Lab’s Competitive Advantage

If you were to poll pathology labs and ask what the most important factor in competing for referring physicians’ cases, you would get a multitude of answers.  Some of the most common we hear are connectivity (ability to interface with physician EMR), lab/pathologist reputation, marketable/usable lab reports, etc; but the one factor that we hear…

Rapid software updates

If you are a pathology group or any healthcare provider group for that matter, how would you rate the effectiveness of your software vendor on needed updates?  Are you seeing quick turnarounds (days or weeks) on needed functionality changes or is it more of a six month to a year version roll-out scenario?  What impact…

Social Labs

As a follow up to our recent post, Social Media in Pathology – Game Changer, check out this recent article from CAP Today entitled Social media in labs-hook, line, and sinker.  In it, Peggy McKee, owner and senior recruiter of PHC Consulting, gives her take on the lack of social media usage in the laboratory…

Meaningful Use Objectives for Pathologists

As mentioned in our recent post, Meaningful Use and Pathology Labs, we stated we would start forwarding on information regarding the affects of Meaningful Use (MU) on pathologists.  Check out this CAP article called Experts Detail Meaningful Use Challenges, Opportunities for Pathologists.  In it they talk about the demand for interfaces and they list 8 objectives…

Lab-to-EMR Interfacing – It’s a Business Decision

It is no secret that pathology groups are fielding calls from their referring physicians, hospitals, and healthcare partners to build EMR interfaces.  Check out our previous post Impact of EMR adoption on the Pathology Lab.  The first impact that we noted in that post is labs must spend $ on LIS-to-EMR interfacing.  We also note that this…