Clinical Laboratory Subcommittees Merge June 2000

AT ITS JANUARY 2000 MEETING, the Executive Committee of Committee E31 on Healthcare Informatics requested that two subcommittees merge. As a result, Subcommittee E31.14 on Clinical Laboratory Instrument Interface merged into E31.13 on Clinical Laboratory Information Management. Co-chairing expanded Subcommittee E31.13 is Arden Forrey, Ph.D., research associate, School of Dentistry, University of Washington Seattle, and William Coughlin, marketing manager, Information Technology for Global Products, Chemistry Division, Dade Behring, Newark, Del.

Individuals are welcomed to join the expanded group. It will develop standardized data coding for clinical laboratory information systems that interface with numerous health facilities to create a patient’s total electronic health record.

Their new scope states: “This subcommittee promotes knowledge and develops standards for the acquisition and use of computer information systems in the clinical laboratory as well as the transmission of digital information between clinical laboratory instruments and connected computer systems. These standards include operational policies, system requirements, standard procedures, and terminology related to clinical laboratory systems.”

For further technical information, contact Arden Forrey, 4916 Purdue Ave., NE, Seattle, WA 98105 (206/616-1875), or William Coughlin, marketing manager, Information Technology for Global Products, Chemistry Division, Dade Behring, P.O. Box 6101, Newark, DE 19714-6101 (302/631-8795). Committee E31 meets Nov. 3-5 in Los Angeles, Calif., in conjunction with the AMIA 2000 Annual Symposium. For further information, contact manager Teresa Cendrowska, ASTM (610/832-9718). //