How to Manage Your Multi-Location Labs: Understanding Laboratory Information System (LIS)

Multi-location lab management is the strategic and operational framework that enables two or more laboratory sites to function as a unified, efficient, and compliant enterprise. This involves coordinating data across testing labs, satellite collection sites, and global research facilities.

In other words, multi-location lab management ensures centralized standardization, communication, and data integrity.

We recognize that these processes are extremely delicate and highly prone to human error, making it essential to identify multi-location labs’ key challenges and simplify the complexities inherent in distributed laboratory operations.

Back in the 1900s, Medical labs used to serve their local clientele and rarely interacted with other health systems (Martin, 2021). However, as foodborne disease outbreaks increased, so did the need for interoperability. We went from independent labs to coordinated patient care by aggregating laboratory data from across the country.

Integrating clinical care across facilities presented unique challenges to lab management, such as:

1. Complex billing and coding requirements: Labs in multiple sites may struggle to keep up with the intricate process of billing and changes to payer requirements, codes, and documentation.

• In the US, labs use the Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) codes, Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System (HCPCS) codes, and International Classification of Diseases (ICD) codes for diagnosis. When incorrectly used, this can lead to claim denials.
• Some lab tests are bundled into a single CPT code, so “unbundling” them, coding separately, can lead to denials or overpayment recovery.

2. Insurance verification errors: This first step can be the first reason you get your claims denied.

• Did you know that about 6.8 million eligible individuals may lose coverage due to failure to provide annual confirmation of Medicaid eligibility? Yes, a simple mistake of missing your annual confirmation can leave you without coverage.
• What more if it’s a misspelled name from manual eligibility verification? CAQH reports that manually checking adds more than 20 minutes per transaction, at a cost of nearly $10 billion per year to medical providers.

3. Technology integration issues: Many multi-location labs use different Laboratory Information Systems (LIS) and billing systems that do not integrate well, leading to inefficiencies, manual data handling, double entries, and errors impacting revenue.

The biggest challenge? Kelly Sullivan, PhD, global director of operations and labs at CIC, shared in an article that there is “inconsistency” in different areas, including processes, policies, communication, and team roles. She highlighted the importance of transparency between sites, which allows for a smooth multi-location lab management.

LIS also has specific functionalities that significantly contribute to improved productivity:

• Should be accompanied by healthcare standards, healthcare code systems, and imaging and diagnostics standards
• Must have seamless data sharing between disparate healthcare systems.
• Need to have semantic and syntactic interoperability for fetching and caching clinical data.

No lab is an island. See how Synapse Lab Billing can scale your labs with real-time analytics, a unified billing dashboard, and data-driven billing insights. Talk to our experts today.