8:30 AM | Course Introduction – Dr. Parwani

8:35 AM | Outside the Box Interfaces – Agile Techniques for Getting Data In and Out of the LIS – Dr. Routbort

"Standard" HL7 electronic interfaces provide well-defined and carefully constrained portals of information transfer into laboratory information systems. However, they can be difficult to adapt to rapidly evolving needs, especially in the era of molecular pathology where both analysis and reporting have increasingly demanding requirements. In addition, not all systems can be readily electronically interfaced together, creating a need for techniques to bridge the gap between paper/forms generation and electronic data. We will examine through real-world examples and demonstration several "agile" techniques for facilitating data flow and in out of the LIS. These will include 1. Using a "print and parse" workflow solution in the flow cytometric laboratory to remove the need for paper-based distribution of documents and eliminate the manual transcription of data elements from specialized analysis software to the LIS, 2. Techniques using two-dimensional bar codes and the ubiquitous Adobe Reader application to create outreach forms which can be printed and then used to drive automatic importation of specimen and order data, and 3. Development of web services and report viewer controls to facilitate the accurate and timely reporting of pathology and laboratory data.

By the end of this presentation, attendees should be able to:

Understand some of the benefits and limitations of traditional HL7 interfaces to the LIS
Be familiar with using middleware approaches to automatically import heterogeneous data sources such as complex flow cytometric data
Consider whether electronic forms software with bar-coded data representation might be an effective paper-to-electronic bridge in their own facilities
Understand the potentially transformative power of web services on the reporting of pathology and laboratory data

9:35 AM | Laboratories and the Public Good: Informatics at the Crossroads – Dr. Aller

Laboratories produce data that is of value far beyond individual episodes of patient care. Laboratory measurements can help assess the health of a population, discern patterns of disease, and detect individual cases that should be followed up to inhibit spread of disease. By communicating data from the LIS database – where it has been created for the sake of the individual patient – to regional databases that are focused on promoting the public good, we can provide many important benefits to our fellow citizens.

At the same time, transmission and usage of data must strictly respect the confidentiality of the patient. Although there is a HIPAA exemption for most aspects of public health reporting, there remains an obligation to safeguard information from public disclosure.

By the end of this presentation, attendees should be able to:

Describe different data sources useful in the protection of the public
Discuss the evolution in how we have used laboratory and clinical data to help detect disease outbreaks and identify opportunities for improvement in the public’s health
List five reasons why fully automated data transmission is superior to manual reporting of disease cases
Develop a specific action plan for adaptation of your particular laboratory information system, to become a valuable information resource for public health
 

10:35 AM | The Healthcare Data Warehouse Strategy – Dr. Dolan

This presentation will give a description of a data warehouse as it applies to healthcare particularly in laboratory medicine. This presentation will define what a data warehouse is and then demonstrate the use of the system in their laboratory over the last twelve years. Particular emphasis will be given to the use of the warehouse in activity based costing, sales, billing, service systems management, dashboards, utilization of blood bank products, looking at utilization of resource, reference range determinations and use of the system as a bioterrorism centinal system.

By the end of this presentation, attendees:
 

will understand the definition of a data warehouse
will see the utilization of the warehouse in healthcare overall
will see its practical applications laboratory medicine
the overall impact on the delivery and cost of healthcare
 

11:35 AM | Making Your AP Lab System Work for You: Bar-coding and Workflow – Mr. Piccoli

With increasing attention devoted to ensuring patient safety and improving efficiency of lab processes, the application of bar-coding technology and related process engineering has reached a new pitch in Anatomic Pathology practice. We will review and discuss an initiative stretching over the past three years to integrate 2-D bar-coding into all AP tissue samples and redesign lab processes and the supporting LIS workflow to gain efficiency and provide positive patient identification between samples. Important topics in the development to be covered include:

Advantages and disadvantages of developing an existing third-party solution
Selection of optimal hardware solutions and changing targets over time
Software components to trigger appropriate “checkpoints” in the anatomical pathology lab workflow.
Trials and mistrials of integrating other automated systems into the workflow

12:35 PM | API Roundtable with LIS Vendors Luncheon

1:35 PM | Practical Image File Management - Beyond an Integrated Solution – Dr. Sinard

Many LIS vendors have integrated digital imaging solutions into their products. While this integration provides many advantages, particularly with respect to setting up the system, it can end up restricting the availability of image capture options and image utilization procedures. This presentation will discuss an alternative approach which maximizes image capture options and facilitates access to the images. It will be presented as an example of how locally developed solutions can be integrated into commercial LIS software. In addition, we will also discuss how this same solution, with minor modification, has been used to manage images from scanned requisition forms.
By the end of this presentation, attendees:

will understand the advantages and disadvantages of integrated imaging solutions
will learn the importance of developing a robust image file management solution
will see examples of how locally developed software can be integrated into commercial systems
will explore options of semi-automated scanned document management at your local institutions

2:35 PM | Implementing Informatics-Driven Change in the laboratory – A survival guide! – Dr. Riben

So you wake up and find yourself in charge of changing how things are done in the laboratory, and you realize no one else has volunteered. You know Informatics will play a huge part… What now? This presentation will focus on strategies for leading informatics-driven change in the laboratory: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.

By the end of this presentation, attendees should be able to:

Drive bottom-up change with informatics solutions
Develop change management infrastructure for informatics driven change
Develop an RFP for technology assessment
Use best practices for measuring and demonstrating change in the laboratory

3:35 PM | How an Electronic Employee Can Transform Your Pathology Workflow – Mr. Garniss

An electronic employee is a software program that simulates a human LIS user for repetitive and/or well defined tasks on the LIS. An electronic employee can therefore be used to automate LIS activities without major custom software development and without modifying the LIS code base. At the Massachusetts General Hospital, electronic employees are used to economically and flexibly extend LIS capability and transform Pathology work flow.

By the end of the presentation, the attendee will:

Understand how typical electronic employee software, Boston WorkStation (BWS), works
Understand potential use case scenarios and examples of how MGH uses electronic employees to free up FTEs, save time, increase productivity, prevent serious medical and technical errors in Anatomic and Clinical Pathology.
Understand the potential of electronic employees in LIS Alpha/Beta programming or in quickly trying new changes in workflow with out paying your vendor
Be able to estimate ROI of an electronic employee and determine if an "electronic employee" is right in specific applications

4:35 PM | Using the LIS to support LEAN and Six Sigma in Your Laboratory – Dr. Balis

This presentation will provide a structured and rational framework for one to construct cogent approaches to the implementation of Lean and Six Sigma solutions in Clinical Lab practice, using the LIS as a key enabling tool for the generation of critical data sets needed in support of evidence-based process change. The presentation will include both conceptual and technical, implementation-level detail in support of described approaches, and will be very practically-minded, towards the goal of the attendee taking these concepts back to the Gemba (Workplace) for immediate use.

By the end of this presentation, attendees will:

Recognize the intrinsic value of Lean and Six Sigma approaches and how LIS integration of data and workflow is a key enabling component to facilitate their implementation
Gain familiarity with effective methods of date extraction and data aggregation for both legacy and modern LIS systems
Understand the use cases where data mirroring and transactional replication may be effective enabling tools
Be familiar with the most likely targets in typical workflow to yield significant initial improvements in error reduction and productivity
Have reviewed selected case studies
Have reviewed effective project team constituencies and mission approaches

5:35 PM | Q&A