“Laboratory and the Electronic Medical Record--Issues and Opportunities,” a two-day symposium sponsored by the National Academy for Clinical Biochemistry (NACB), will occur Sept. 15-16 at the Airport Radisson Hotel, Philadelphia, Pa., to explore the critical issues of laboratory information systems (LIS) integration with requisite data archiving to the electronic medical record (EMR).

The forum will be highly interactive, based upon the successful dynamics of the two previous point-of-care testing (POCT) symposia. Designed for a cross-section of the health-care industry, the symposium will examine the key role of LIS in the landscape of the rapidly evolving EMR. The meeting objective is to gather the medical laboratory, informatics, and manufacturing sectors to discuss what is commonly described as the “electronic medical record,” to:

--Identify key elements of the evolving EMR;
--Identify the issues for creating interoperability of the laboratory with the EMR;
--Demonstrate the application of laboratory and other medical databases to providing value-added patient care; and
--Demonstrate examples of successful clinical and business decision support as they evolve in the EMR.

“It is increasingly necessary to educate laboratory community stakeholders in the host of issues created when the LIS integrates and interoperates with the EMR,” says Jay Jones, Ph.D., director, Chemistry, Toxicology, Regional Labs and Point-of-Care Testing, Geisinger Healthcare System, Danville, Pa., who is co-chairing the symposium with Larry Kaplan, Ph.D., Belleview Hospital, New York University.

“Laboratory stakeholders will increasingly be challenged to properly deliver its product— information—to customer providers in a distributed health care environment. Since laboratory data is critical to evidence-based clinical decision making, laboratory community stakeholders will assist in the integation of laboratory data and its embedding in clinical pathways for managing the utilization of laboratory testing and outcome analysis.” To guide integration of this data, Jones and a working group of ASTM Committee E31 on Healthcare Informatics are developing a standard set of electronic conventions, coming soon from ASTM (See article, See SN article).

Symposium co-sponsors are the American Association for Clinical Chemistry, Clinical Laboratory Management Association, Medical Records Institute, Centers for Disease Control, National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards, and ASTM.

Audience-panel discussions will follow presentations on:

--Components of the Electronic Medical Record (EMR): Which Systems Interoperate with the LIS and What You Need to Know About Them;
--The Emerging Electronic Medical Record – What the Future Will Bring;
--The Nuts and Bolts of the EMR;
--Successful Models for Connecting Lab to the EMR: Now and the Future;
--Logical Steps for Aggregating the Electronic Medical Record;
--EMR - Legal and Regulatory Issues;
--Connectivity Experiences – The Web, Wireless, and Beyond; and
--Bumps on the Road to Success.

For information on registration, abstracts, CME credits, etc., consult the National Academy for Clinical Biochemistry Web site, or contact Jay Jones, Ph.D., Geisinger Healthcare System (570/271-6656). //

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