It’s a well-known fact that lab data is the basis for making an accurate medical diagnosis. Until physicians receive lab results, they can’t write an effective treatment plan or prescribe medication for patients. However, many providers can’t tap into the massive data repository in lab information systems to offer value-added care. And there’s an urgent need for providers to efficiently mine this data for better clinical decisions and enhance business intelligence? This article will discuss how labs can benefit from using HL7 lab analytics integration to tap into insights contained in lab databases.
1. Optimize Efficiency of Lab Operations
A vast volume of data flows through lab information systems every day. Referring physicians send orders, lab technicians track specimens and perform tests. They also enter results manually or automatically into the LIS before sending verified results and reports to the referring clinicians.
Basic reports about lab tests, completed tests, and uncompleted tests support daily operations in these facilities. But there’s greater value in reports produced through analysis.
Reports from analysis can reveal existing and potential bottlenecks and trends in lab test orders. Managers can use this information to improve planning and resource utilization while speeding up processes and lowering operational costs.
2. Produce Turnaround Reports
Analytics tools may be used to discover the turnaround times for different tests. The aim is to find the tests that take the longest to complete.
The report may be analyzed by test groups, departments, shifts, providers, employees, or patient locations. After generating and investigating such information, the lab management can find ways to optimize such processes or allocate more resources to such tests.
3. Generate Utilization Reports
When the LIS is integrated with the EHR of requesting providers, it may send utilization reports to them directly. It is possible to analyze utilization by the provider, specialty, hospitals, wards, and patient types.
Most utilization reports contain data on test volumes, test type, and cost for each case. Further analysis of these reports will create patterns, and providers can may use these patterns as decision support tools while ordering lab tests.
4. Enhance Decision Support
Data from lab tests can give clinicians the clues to discover medical issues affecting a particular demographic. They are also an excellent source of facts for general studies, and they support decision-making by providing alerts or predictions.
In virtually all labs, test results are linked with demographic data such as age, date ordered, patient details in the EHR, and discharge status. Consequently, an HL7 analytics tool will provide a stream of information that providers can use to predict disease trends and take preventive measures to reduce fatalities.
5. Analyze Patient Outcome
Providers with internal laboratories can use data mined from their labs to analyze patient outcomes. The HL7 analytics tool will make it possible to quickly compare new lab test results with data residing in the EHR.
Parameters such as length of stay, mortality, and total cost of care can also be correlated with results from lab tests. Insights obtained from these analyses may be used to understand how lab results can predict the outcome of treatment for some medical conditions.
6. Predict Patient Vulnerabilities
Lab results transmitted through an HL7 analytics tool can reveal information for better care. Lab results can deliver information about a patient’s medical risks in real-time with an integration interface.
For instance, if you examine the lab test results over 48 hours, you can see how the scores correlate with established predictions for patients with the same condition.
Integrating the LIS with the EHR with an HL7 interface makes it possible to examine test scores and provide urgent attention to the most vulnerable patients.
Connect With an HL7 Lab Analytics Integration Expert
To harness the benefits of lab analytics integration, contact Lifepoint Informatics at 877.522.8378. Check out our contact page to book your free consultation or see a demo of our lab integration solutions.