How to obtain Reports from External Lab

Management and Administration
#1

We obtain laboratory test results from External Labs.
In Sri Lanka even the top labs that have quality assurance programs with USA or Australia do not provide a digital output to EMR systems.
They will provide a printed reports to the customer or send and email /WhatApp

How do we set about getting the lab reports directly to the OpenEMR system using the inbuilt module

Thank you

Kumara

#2

Hello @kmendis
OpenEMR’s inbuilt labs module is called the ‘Procedures’ module because it is designed to process Provider orders for, and results from, in- house procedures, which can include labs performed in-house. This link discusses that use case.
https://www.open-emr.org/wiki/index.php/Procedure_configuration_%26_order_process

The Procedures module can also be configured to work with outside lab interfaces, which is how OpenEMR obtained Meaningful Use 1 certification. The OpenEMR wiki has several pages discussing what was involved in that project which may be useful to you.

However, receiving lab results directly from external labs totally depends on the lab providing the results in HL7 format electronic data files. If they do not send data files of any sort, (which, for example, may be programmatically converted to HL7), your only option is to scan the paper lab report and upload it into the patient’s ‘Documents’ storage. Or the lab may save you the effort of scanning, and email to you PDFs of the results which can be uploaded to the patient’s Documents.

In case you are interested in the MU1 project to make OpenEMR handle external lab results, here are some links to peruse.

Good luck in your endeavor!
Best- Harley

Overview of the Meaningful Use requirements that were fulfilled
https://www.open-emr.org/wiki/index.php/Incorporate_lab_tests_and_values_or_esults_(MU2)

Proposal for precisely how to modify/ configure OpenEMR to accomplish this, including some code to assist, and external links to resources that were used.
https://www.open-emr.org/wiki/index.php/Lab_Test_Results

This is the project page for the OpenEMR Certification Stage II Meaningful Use project, containing the summary of the work done.
https://www.open-emr.org/wiki/index.php/OpenEMR_Certification_Stage_II_Meaningful_Use

#3

Thank you very much Harley for the detailed explanation.
Can I ask one question?
If a lab is using modern autoanalyzers for routine blood tests how easy is it to obtain an output in HL7 format?
Cheers
Kumara

#4

That sounds like it would completely depend on the autoanalyzer system, how it is designed to output the results. You might talk to a sales representative of the analyzer in question, but beyond that I have no advice.
Good luck!