The company
Associated Pathology Medical Group (APMG) is the longest standing independent anatomic and clinical pathology laboratory in Silicon Valley. Founded in 1956, this small regional lab has eight pathologists across two locations, Los Gatos and Santa Cruz, California. Its staff consists of board-certified pathologists with a broad background and comprehensive experience in diagnostic testing. Running Intelepath and LIS software, APMG connects with both national and smaller brand EHR and EMR systems.
The challenge
APMG's past experience with integration solutions resulted in long build times and ongoing support costs. The lab relied on the small staff of its laboratory information system (LIS) vendor to create four interfaces. Each took three months to build, and without the integration engine APMG really needed, they became point-to-point interfaces that were difficult to manage.
For a regional lab like APMG, creating interfaces presented cost and support issues as well. With the LIS vendor doing the development, long lead times drove up setup and labor costs. With these ad hoc builds there was no dedicated IT support, and the physicians were often on their own. Add the need for true interface integration to support interoperability, and APMG needed a robust integration engine.
The solution
"Our needs are simple: find a provider who can help us manage and control our interface development schedule in the most cost effective way," says Menor Taro, Director of IT for APMG. After exhaustive research of the key industry players, APMG selected eTX HEMI by eTransX based on its ability to provide easy interface creation, excellent support, and overall value.
Prior to using eTX HEMI, APMG spent up to $9,000 and three months of time to create just one interface. With eTX HEMI it takes one week to create an interface, sometimes less if the team uses the standard HL7 message. In addition to those efficiencies, APMG saves on labor costs too.
Lab size is no longer a constraint either. eTX HEMI allows APMG to offer the same level of application integration capability as the large national laboratories. With eTransX as its partner, APMG competes on equal footing by delivering anatomic and clinical pathology results electronically to its referring physicians.
The results
Easy implementation and scalable, cost effective systems: eTX HEMI met all of APMG's challenges head on and exceeded expectations. Implementation took a week to complete, with three hours to install the software and a week to test and go live. APMG does not require a high volume of interfaces, and is proof that eTX HEMI works for organizations of any size. As the lab grows, APMG is confident it can scale its integration capabilities to meet any demand.
eTX HEMI also freed APMG of its support issues. "Even support is great. Any time we call or email, they get back to us immediately and keep working until our problem is solved," said Taro.
“From implementation to support, eTX HEMI just works. With scalable integration tools and cost models, it's great for any size lab. We're proof of that.”
Associated Pathology Medical Group