Oracle Cerner, Labcorp Deal Aims to Streamline Laboratory Workflow
Labcorp will leverage Oracle Cerner’s lab information systems to update laboratory workflow processes and enhance patient data sharing across healthcare organizations.
Oracle Cerner has partnered with Labcorp, a global life science company, to streamline laboratory workflow within hospital-based labs across ten states.
Earlier this year, Labcorp bought RWJBarnabas Health’s outreach laboratory business and select assets.
This latest partnership will allow Labcorp to leverage Oracle Cerner’s laboratory information system (LIS), enhancing patient care and improving lab efficiency with a more centralized lab operations process.
“The ability to easily manage workflow and testing information is imperative to providing the high level of service that customers expect from Labcorp,” Carl Warner, senior vice president of information technology at Labcorp, said in a press release. “With its well-established reputation and health technology, Oracle Cerner supports our goal of helping patients and physicians make better health decisions.”
Additionally, Labcorp intends to provide technological advancements to laboratories and better support patient data sharing across health systems.
“Oracle Cerner has a long history of developing innovative solutions to support even the most complex lab operations,” said Travis Dalton, general manager of Oracle Health. “Together with Labcorp, our solutions will help reduce manual steps in the labs to make information sharing easier across the health system, leading to faster diagnostic decisions that can improve patient care.”
According to the press release, as much as 80 percent of all diagnostic decisions are advised by lab test results. Additionally, Oracle Cerner’s suite of laboratory solutions aims to support several laboratory areas of need, including clinical, anatomic pathology, molecular diagnosis, and laboratory outreach.
For several years, many health systems have been exploring options for advancing laboratory workflows through LIS functionality.
LIS functionality can greatly impact patient care as those functions are directly visible in patient care settings, such as emergency department tracking and nursing documentation, according to an AACC article written by Kacy Peterson MBA, MLS, laboratory director at Avera McKennan Hospital & University Health Center.
“An LIS is the brains of the laboratory, and disrupting that flow of data is a large event—even when planned, as in our hospital’s recent LIS conversion,” Peterson said. “A successful LIS conversion or implementation starts with planning and assessing risks from an early stage. It was imperative that our laboratory had a seat at the table from the very beginning of the project.”
Peterson also said that engaging laboratory staff to identify and bring up functionality issues during pre-live testing and post-go-live was vital in ensuring the health IT implementation supported laboratory workflows.
