Laboratory Information

Management System

PREPARED BY:
MARIELA C. RONQUILLO, RMT
The laboratory information management system (LIMS) is designe
d to help process information in medical research to improve the e
fficiency of the department's services and laboratory operations re
ducing manual tasks and procedures.

• This is commonly used in conjunction with laboratory informatio

n systems (LIS) in the medical and pharmaceutical industries.
 Gartner’s 2016 Hype Cycle for life Sciences
According to _____________________________________,
most of the top pharmaceutical laboratories use LIMS.

• The system is also useful for biobanks and genomic testi

ng centers and laboratories that study drugs and develop
formulations
Functional Requirements and Features of LIMS
According to Reisenwitz (2017), the functionality of LIMS includes:

• Sample management
• Workflow management
• Reporting
• Electronic medical records (EMR)/ Electronic Health Reco
rds (EHR)
• Mobile
• Enterprise resource planning
SAMPLE MANAGEMENT
Accurate and detailed records are necessary to make sure that samples are not lost or mixed up. A record should show whether the sample meets the
acceptable values.

LIMS records and stores the following information about the sample:
• Who the sample was taken from?
• What is the sample taken?
• Who is working with it (researcher or provider)?
• Who handled the sample?
• Where does it go next?
• How do you store these samples?
• When does it need to move?
 Workflow Management

• LIMS can be used to automate records and workflows wh

ich saves time.
• Existing coding methods and procedures enable the syst
em to take part in the decision process.
• Using preset rules, it can suggest instruments needed for
the procedure and assign the medical laboratory technici
an or specialist to complete the test.
 Reporting

• Using LIMS, reports can be run and exported to make them

standard and customized.
• Reports on the most frequently used instrument, the avera
ge handling time of sample, and list of backlogs are used da
ta analysis and formulation of recommendation for future p
olicymaking.
 EHR

• Some LIMS have a built-in electronic health records (EHR) f

unctionality which is capable of handling patient records an
d billing information.
• A health institution should consider this during acquisition
because this feature will greatly help in managing clinical la
boratory procedures.
 Mobile

• Gartner's (2016) reports that mobile LIMS offerings are li

mited. But with the accepted use of smartphones in the l
aboratory, it is better for LIMS to be mobile-friendly.
Core Components of LIMS
LIMS software suites usually involve multiple components to provide a variety
IEEE GlobalSpec (2015) s
of functions for different levels of the laboratory. _______________________
pecifies the components of a LIMS software but are not limited to the followin
g:
• • Electronic laboratory notebooks
• • Sample management programs
• • Process execution software
• • Records management software
• • Applications to interface with analytical instruments or data systems
• • Workflow tools
• • Client tracking applications
• • Best practice and compliance databases
• • ERP software
 Laboratory Standards

• To help promote laboratory safety, the Occupational Exp

osure to Hazardous Chemicals in Laboratories Standard
was released in the United States by the Occupational Sa
fety and Health
• To help promote laboratory safety, the Occupation Admi
nistration (OSHA) in 2011.
Some important provisions from the standard are cited below:

• ___________________
LABORATORY is a workplace where hazardous c
hemicals are used. It is also a facility that stores small qu
antities of hazardous chemicals which are not intended f
or production use. On the other hand, the laboratory use
of hazardous chemicals should meet the conditions liste
d below:
• The manipulations of chemicals should be on "laboratory scale” o
nly and can be handled by one person.
• There is the use of multiple chemicals and procedures.
• The procedures should not simulate any production process.
• Protective laboratory tools are available and proper practices are
followed to minimize potential exposure to harmful chemicals.
• Any hazardous use of chemicals which does not meet this definiti
on is regulated under other standards. Examples are
✓ chemicals used in the maintenance of the laboratory buildi
ng,
✓ production for commercial sale, and
✓ testing of a product for quality control.
 CHEMICAL HYGIENE PLAN
• A _______________________________ which discusses all aspect
s of the laboratory standards should be formulated if the standar
ds apply. The employer must implement the provisions which add
ress the proper purchase, storage, handling, and disposal of the c
hemicals used in the facility.
• The primary elements of a CHP include the following:
• 1. establishment of Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) to
______________________________
minimize exposure to chemicals and dissemination of informatio
n on the requirements for personal protective equipment, waste
disposal procedures, and engineering controls;
• 2. monitoring of the work environment to provide the action and
medical attention required
• 3. statement of plan on how to obtain free medical care for work-
related exposures; and
• 4. designation of personnel who will handle CHP-related activitie
s such as handling data sheets, organizing trainings, monitoring a
daption, and revising CHP if deemed necessary.
LIMS Application
Patient Registration
When a patient arrives at the hospital, the admission clerk will take som
e basic information and guide him or her to a registration window.
Billing
The process of generating SOAs (statement of accounts) o
r billing statements of in- patients, out- patients, and emer
gencies are the same. In the following example, an in-patie
nt’s, out patients, and emergencies are the same. In the fol
lowing example, an in-patient’s billing statement is used.
• Contract Management
• Most LIMS allow the laboratory professionals to manage the billi
ng and payment aspects of their activities and to create statistica
l and billing reports on a par with the laboratory and managemen
t needs.
• They provide parameters for a flexible price schedule and enable
heightened attention on customer needs.
• They automate billing processing, hasten collections, and offer
marketing tools which reduce the time spent on standard flow an
d allow billing and accounting personnel to focus on improving co
llection of problematic accounts (Infomed, 2017).
• 
• In addition, the common features of LIMS for invoicing a
nd contract management include:
• customer customizable invoices including history analysis of balance
and charges, history balance, detailed services, and participation wh
en in insurance coverage, discounts, among others;
• different electronic formats for invoices to allow interfacing with cust
omer electronic systems;
• customizable information completion reports for customers;
• managerial reports which display laboratory billing status for payer g
roups including project return values for each payer group;
• ability to change the insurance organization of a patient per visit:
 • ability to select which tests are covered by insurance and w
hich have automatic modification of the prices accordingly
• supervision of financial data management of the senders;
• reminder for amounts due from past visits.
• immediate access to the billing card of each patient; and
• consistency with international laws
• 
Accounts Receivables
• Through the integration of the LIMS, the personnel in charge of
managing accounts receivables can easily extract information wh
ich was already available from the invoicing and contract manage
ment procedures. Additionally, the LIMS can
• generate specific or complete accounts receivable reports,
• monitor balances for reconciliation and audit purposes,
• export data to other accounting systems, and
• customize reports according to specifications.
• 
Worklist and Workflow
• LIMS assists laboratories in setting priorities of current workloads
based on analyst and instrument availability.
• This function allows the user to track a sample, a batch of sample
s, or numerous batches through their lifecycle.
• Queuing can also be done by sample or by workflow which is a bl
ock of repetitive procedures in a certain process.
• The queuing and work list feature provides insights about when a
n event occurred, how long it was, and who was involved.
• Quality Control
• Diagnostic tests executed inside the clinical laboratory may yield
two kinds of results, a patient result or a quality control (QC) resul
t.
• The result can be quantitative (in numbers), or qualitative (positiv
e or negative) or semi-quantitative (limited to a few different valu
es).
• QC results are used to verify whether or not the instrument is wo
rking within prescribed parameters. Based on the said results, reli
ability of a patient’s test results will be determined. (Bio-Rad Labo
ratories, 2008).
• LIMS functions enable users to set standards about the r
elevant range of patient test results or to extract test res
ult information for the purpose of quality assurance.
 Barcode-generation. Printing, and Reading

• LIMS modules are commonly linked to a barcoding generator whi

ch enables a fast and MS modules are commonly linked to a barc
oding label general method to identify tubes, samples, document
s, and on a label sticker to be placed on any item which needs veri
fication. A barcode editor also allows multiple labels to be printed
at a label paper.
• With this kind of technology, information about a tube, a specim
en organization's or classification needs.
In-built Bi-directional Interfaces with Equipm
ent
• A two-way communication between the information syst
em and the clinical instrument is required. LIMS downloa
ds the test orders and specimen ID for each test. On the
other hand, the clinical instrument uploads the same info
rmation for analysis.
• The same method is also used by instruments for microbi
ology, hematology, and other areas.