LIS / EHR Integration for Specimens

• Collection, departure, arrival, and accessioning events show up where teams already work
• Events are concise, trustworthy, and easy to audit
• PHI remains in the LIS while non-PHI keys power location and custody
• Interfaces are reliable, duplicate-safe, and simple to support

Specimen tracking often lives in a separate tool, leaving the LIS and EHR blind to custody gaps. Manual updates are slow, error-prone, and hard to audit. The result is delay, re-work, and risk. You need automated, succinct events that plug into current systems and turn data into action.

This part explains how to write concise time and location events to the LIS order using standard interfaces, with smart retry logic that prevents duplicate records if there is an outage. It emphasizes a privacy model where PHI stays in the LIS, events carry non-PHI keys, and access is controlled and auditable.

Specimen events become actionable signals in existing systems, improving data quality while keeping integration effort low.

Events model: Define a small set of events tied to the LIS order number such as collected, departed unit, arrived receiving, accessioned, placed into storage or processing.

Identifiers: Use a non-PHI RFID key linked to the LIS order. Barcode remains the clinical label.

Interfaces: HL7 v2 messages, FHIR APIs, or REST endpoints through the hospital interface engine. Support buffering, retry, and duplicate protection.

Security and access: SSO, roles, and audit logs. Keep PHI within LIS and EHR.

Reliability: Queue and replay during outages, confirm delivery, and log every write with timestamps and source.

Capture: Fixed readers and handhelds generate movement events with time and place.

Normalize: Middleware maps reads to LIS orders, filters noise, and builds the concise event payload.

Deliver: Events are sent through the interface engine using the hospital’s approved pathways.

Confirm: Delivery is acknowledged and stored for audit. If delivery fails, messages are retried without creating duplicates.

Display: LIS worklists and dashboards surface the most recent meaningful state, while detail is available for audit.

• Clear ownership for interface changes and message schemas
• Change control and versioning for event types and mappings
• Routine review of exception queues and delivery success rates
• Periodic access audits for service accounts and users

Phase 1:

• Wire receiving arrival and accessioning events to the LIS on one high-volume route.
• Turn on reconciliation in receiving and confirm events appear in LIS queues and worklists.

Phase 2:

• Add unit departure events and route timers.
• Expand to two more routes.
• Validate end-to-end delivery and reporting.

• Delivery success rate and average time from read to event in LIS
• Percentage of LIS orders with complete custody events for the covered routes
• Number of duplicate or out-of-order messages avoided through retry logic
• Time from collection to accessioning by priority class
• Exceptions resolved within target windows

Concise signals: Only write events that matter to workflow so staff see clear, usable updates.

Duplicate-safe logic: Retries do not create extra records.

PHI discipline: Tags carry non-PHI keys, while patient context lives only in LIS and EHR.

Auditability: Every write and retry is timestamped with source, route, and outcome.