Electronic Lab Ordering With EHR: To Integrate Or Not To Integrate?

Integrating electronic lab ordering with the EHR software allows healthcare practices to leverage their existing process, technology, and health data to stay ahead of the competition.

A well-integrated system will not only reduce your practice workload but will also allow for drilling down into valuable patient data. Therefore today’s healthcare organizations are integrating with different platforms to bridge the gap between multiple health practices functions.                             

By integrating electronic lab ordering with your EHR software, you can easily enhance the power of your system to streamline practice operations. Here is all about how integrating electronic lab orders and EHR will benefit your practice.

The growing importance of electronic lab ordering

The adoption of EHR aims at cost-effectively delivering self-care. In today’s healthcare industry, most providers are still ordering through the traditional paper-based system. For the laboratory, this takes a group effort to input the information into a LIS.

As the growing adoption of electronic delivery of lab results has been very beneficial to healthcare providers, electronic lab ordering is a great concept where both the providers and the laboratory can enjoy the benefits and be able to deliver better care for patients with greater efficiency.

It is estimated approximately that entering data manually into a computer results in an 8% error rate, leading to increased costs and more work delays.

To reduce errors, good usability and accessibility are the two smart keys. The ordering interface that frustrates the doctor could cause more errors and slow the process. Same way on the laboratory side, the orders need to have complete information. Electronic lab orders ultimately reduce this kind of cost by transferring the data directly into the LIS system—as long as the provider properly enters information.

Integrating electronic lab ordering & EHR: How it helps?

• Warn providers to lab conditions outside regular ranges.
• Provide your organization the capacity to properly handle incoming lab outcomes.
• Empower providers in your organization to recognize and target groups of patients with unusual lab results for follow-up care.
• Support your organization to order fewer tests due to enough availability of lab results.
• Aid providers know required lab tests.
• Allow providers to obtain lab tests electronically, encouraging your organization to improve care quality.
• Transfer lab orders electronically and meets Meaningful Use requirements.

While timelines vary from EHR vendor to vendor, web-based EHRs can often take only weeks instead of months to integrate. Usually, vendors offer a one-time integration to their whole users rather than to individual providers. This universal connection makes it easier for a lab to offer its services to other healthcare providers who decide to go paperless with that EHR solution.

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Benefits of integrating electronic lab ordering with EHR

1. Integrating with EHR reduces errors

Ordering directly from the patient chart within the EHR software eliminates various kinds of errors. It also eliminated the occurrence of lost orders. As the information is directly shared with the physicians using a laboratory information system, electronically ordering lab tests will cut out huge physician errors.

Here in most cases, no manual patient data entry is required. By integrating with EHR, physicians only need to choose the type of test requires and add notes for the lab.

2. Integrating electronic lab orders with EHR saves huge time

Results for electronic lab orders usually arrive twice as fast as paper-based orders. Sending orders manually is very time-consuming and labor-intensive. Another issue with paper-based orders is the frequent duplication of orders. This happens more often in practices that have less staff to coordinate ordering tests and tracking results.

However, when tests can be ordered directly from the EHR, it just takes a few clicks. Some practices can save up to one hour daily because they can order diagnostic tests without tedious manual processes.

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3. Better coordination of patient care

Ordering tests electronically within the EHR interface allows for better order tracking. Without going through many paper charts or switching from one application to another, you can view the completed and pending orders. You can also evaluate each test’s results within the context of historical results and monitor patients with chronic conditions.

Final Thoughts

The benefits of integrating electronic lab ordering with EHR for both healthcare providers and laboratories are very clear, right from reduced costs to fewer medical errors. Here the laboratories have the huge opportunity to establish a well-versed connection with the EHRs that provide a great experience for providers. When the right EHR software automates most of the data involved in a lab order, then the physicians have to do work only on little things and can concentrate more on quality healthcare delivery.

Looking for the best EHR software with advanced lab integration features, Vozo EHR will be the best solution for your health practice. Schedule a quick demo with our expert team to know more about integrating electronic lab orders with our EHR.