Clinical Laboratory LIMS Implementation: A Success Story
How a mid-size clinical laboratory achieved 64% turnaround time reduction and 62% fewer billing denials through strategic LIMS implementation.
The Challenge: Growing Pains
Midwest Diagnostic Services had grown from 800 to 2,400 specimens per day in three years. Good problem to have—except their systems hadn't kept up. They were running a 15-year-old LIMS with no vendor support.
- • TAT averaging 72 hours (target: 24 hours)
- • Denial rate at 18% (industry average: 15%)
- • Three FTEs dedicated just to fixing data entry errors
- • 60% of orders still on paper, requiring 6+ minutes of manual entry each
The Solution: Phased Implementation
Cloud LIMS replacement, consolidated data, eliminated Excel trackers, proper role-based access.
OCR for paper requisitions (94% accuracy), data entry time dropped from 6+ to under 2 minutes.
Validation at order entry, automated eligibility checks, catch problems before they become denials.
Direct EMR integration for top 20 practices, automated fax with confirmation, patient portal.
The Results
| Metric | Before | After | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average TAT (routine) | 72 hours | 26 hours | -64% |
| Stat TAT | 8 hours | 2.4 hours | -70% |
| Denial rate | 18% | 6.8% | -62% |
| Orders processed per FTE | 180/day | 310/day | +72% |
The denial rate improvement alone translated to approximately $840,000 in annual revenue that had previously been written off.
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