A Laboratory Information System (LIS) is a software module in a hospital laboratory which serves to operate and manage all types of clinical test activities and store the test results in its database. This module comprises of a database manager, programming language, hardware, and operating systems. It supports clinical tests for hematology, endocrinology, immunology, cytology, microbiology, and other specialized test. A LIS is a complex system where it will integrate with all instruments within the laboratory. It is also incorporated with other hospital based information systems such as Hospital Information Systems (HIS), Electronic Medical Record (EMR), Radiology Information Systems (RIS), and Picture Archiving and Communication Systems (PACS). Some of the basic functions of LIS include order entry for lab tests, specimen collection, entering and reporting results, transferring data to other information systems, and results verification.

There are several advantages to employing an LIS in a hospital. Namely:

Many hospitals are showing an interest towards adopting EMR at their facilities. It makes more sense for hospitals to link the EMR to LIS and further reduce human errors, increase patient safety and substantiate patient confidentiality.

A public sector based, non-profit organization called Canadian Health Infoway is proposing for the development of a web-enabled LIS with effective communication standards so that the history of patient's clinical tests can be accessed by authorized hospitals across the country. For example, a patient could have undergone a hematology test at one hospital while an immunology test was performed for the same patient at another center. Through a web-enabled LIS, the patient's lab results will be updated from both hospitals. In a likely event where the patient walks into a newer hospital for a diagnosis, his previous test results can be accessed by a physician through the web-enabled LIS without having to repeat the clinical tests. Overall, turn-around time and cost is reduced for both the patient and the hospital. Web-enabled LIS can be better leveraged if hospitals also install an Electronic Health Record (EHR).

One of the top priorities for a lab is to track test samples. In certain cases, time is of the essence for some samples where its life-cycle is crucial. Existing LIS employs bar-code labels to track specimens. Bar-code labels require optical readers and the samples have to be aligned properly in the optical reader's line of sight in order for the information to be read and stored by the LIS. Since the lab samples continue to be processed throughout its life-cycle, there are greater chances for errors to occur. Errors may include human mistakes where samples may be placed in wrong instruments for analysis. If the bar-code label is slightly worn-off, then the optical reader ceases to read the sample. The best alternative to bar-code system is to employ RFID tags. RFID tags are known to speed up processes and reduce turn-around time, making them ideal for clinical test applications. Moreover, they only require a magnetic field at a remote location where several samples can be read simultaneously, unlike a bar-code optical reader where samples have to be read sequentially. In addition to providing enhanced security over bar-code labels, RFID tags have also become cheaper to implement due to lowered production costs. Research is being performed to integrate RFID tags with micro-sensors for clinical applications where not only will the sample be identified, but it's physical and chemical composition will also be provided in real-time.

Current lab tests occur when a patient comes to the hospital with a problem and the physician orders for certain tests in order to diagnose the problem. Molecular testing however, will predict the occurrence of a possible disease by analyzing the biological molecules over time. A patient may undergo several lab tests over time and its respective molecular data will be analyzed over time to predict any pathological condition that may affect the patient. Molecular testing will require many modifications to existing LIS modules in which the system will have to incorporate reference data. Proteomics/genomic testing analyzes the protein interaction in a patient as well as his genealogical history. Developing the LIS to comply with molecular and genomic testing opens the doorway to preventive medicine.

Healthcare expenses are high in North America and Europe. Implementing Healthcare Information Technology for patient related services at hospitals in these regions is a matter of concern because of high initial investments, employing skilled staff and renewing expensive contracts with IT service providers. Additionally, there is an increasing demand for healthcare related services in North America and Europe. The increasing pace of healthcare related services in these regions far surpasses the capacity of hospitals to implement its IT capabilities. As a result, many hospitals in the United States, Canada, and Europe refer their patients to countries such as India, Thailand, Singapore, Hong Kong, Philippines, etc for surgeries and other healthcare related services. The medical tourism market in India alone is expected to reach $ 2 Billion by 2012. The increase in medical tourism therefore, directly affects the rate by which LIS can be implemented at hospitals in the European and North American regions because they LIS needs to be capable of transferring patient data across different nations.

The increasing trend for medical tourism, the demand for real-time web enabled LIS, considering the possibility of replacing bar-codes with RFID at labs and incorporating bioinformatics testing are all important factors that LIS vendors need to consider in the coming years. Companies such as AGFA, Cerner, iSOFT, Philips Medical, GE Healthcare, Siemens, McKesson, etc are offering LIS products with basic and customizable solutions.

However, LIS vendors also need to consider many parameters that influence the end-user (hospitals) in choosing an LIS product. These parameters include government initiatives in specific regions, maintenance, training, reliability, security, scalability, etc. Each hospital has its unique set of requirements ranked from most important to least important. Taking the European market as an example, factors such as the nation's budget, peoples' expectations from healthcare sectors, per capita income, vary drastically in each country. In addition to all these factors, many hospitals are concerned with the LIS implementation time at their facilities. In most cases, the improper communication between LIS vendors and hospitals has increased expenses to both sides. The LIS vendors need to take better initiatives to address all such challenges, and while they do, they also need to consider the emerging trends in the LIS sector that demands a global presence.