Presented at the 2000 APIII Conference Return to 2000 Abstract Index
LOW BUDGET WAYS TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE INTERNET
Pathologists
Associated Medical Laboratories
Macedon, New York
Mark Whitney
John Coers, Jon Nichols, Mark Whitney, Jay Wile
Pathologists Associated Medical Laboratories
Muncie, Indiana
Background: Our clients are geographically dispersed across all of east-central Indiana making direct communication difficult. However, timely communication of test requisitions and rapid turn around of test results are key factors in maintaining client satisfaction and successfully competing against much larger laboratories. In 1997, we set out to create the infrastructure and applications that would serve as a foundation for providing clients with simple and secure Internet-based access to our services and information. We forged ahead despite the fact that we did not have a million dollar budget or dozens of staff people, as did our much larger competitors. We relate our experiences and demonstrate our progress in order to show that small and mid-size laboratories can successfully compete on the Internet playing field.
Design: The key to the design was to break the project into small realistically achievable units that join to form a much larger whole. The central component of our infrastructure is a SQL-based data warehouse capable of receiving data from multiple sources, storing the data long term, and responding quickly to queries for data. Applications are built on a multi-tier model consisting of a Web-based user interface, an Intranet or Internet host acting as a "middleware" transaction server, and the data warehouse supplying the data.
Results: Our first application was at a client beta site in less than a year and went live in only 14 months. The entire system was designed and built by three people while they continued other network and programming duties. The cost of hardware and software for this initial phase was less than $50,000. We have continued to upscale the system and add more applications over the past two years. The data warehouse now contains over 13,000,000 clinical and anatomic test results available to our clients via the Internet.
Conclusion: The growing acceptance of the Internet as a standard method of information exchange combined with the low cost of entry into this arena provides a unique opportunity for laboratories of any size to gain competitive advantages in the marketplace.
