We’re upgrading our Laboratory Information Systems. Here is how it will affect referrers.
From September 6th, Medlab South Timaru will be going live with upgrades to its Laboratory Information System (LIS). This is part of a nationwide initiative that will refresh our existing LIS. Not only does this upgrade make for a more robust system, but it will standardise test names, codes, comments, and reference ranges across the country and where appropriate it will implement HISO standards such as NZPOCS and LOINC.
Five main changes
Referrers are not required to take any actions as a result of the LIS upgrade; however, they can expect to notice five main changes when it comes to reporting:
- The cumulation of some results in Practice Management Systems (PMS) will reset with different test codes and/or names. Cumulation will start again with the new test code and names. All previous results will still appear in your PMS as usual.
- There are some comment changes. This is the result of our clinical teams reviewing ALL current comments and selecting the most appropriate comments to bring into the new system.
- In some instances, you will notice minor changes to values, decimal points and reference ranges. Again, these changes come after a review by clinical staff and have been made in order to standardise resulting.
- Results for any test Medlab South Timaru sends to a referral laboratory for testing (including CHL) will be reported by Medlab South Timaru.
- The new LIS does not support the faxing of results. Faxing is an outdated, unsecure technology. The Ministry of Health recommend discontinuing its use and continued support is not guaranteed by telecommunications providers.
Users of Medtech-32 and Evolution will be provided with Release Notes/Installation Instructions for “Inbox Screening Mapping Update by your PMS provider. The update will re-map Inbox Screening Terms to the new LIS Test result codes. The update does not re-map Patient Inbox. Please ensure you follow the instructions for the update and install as required by 6th September 2022.
Questions and Support
Examples of changes can be found here.
Any questions can be emailed to labrequest@medlabsouth.co.nz