Public Health
LIMS

Designed to Protect the Health of the Population

Public health officials around the world depend on your lab’s ability to not only monitor and track possible pandemics and epidemics, but also to determine causative effects whenever they occur. The STARLIMS Public Health LIMS solution automates processes throughout the lifecycle of the sample, from scheduling to sample login to reporting, empowering labs to deliver timely and accurate results to protect the health of entire population.

Have Confidence in Compliance and Best Practices

• Comply with Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL) guidelines for all 16 PHL processes
• Meet industry-standard best practices and guidelines. Abbott Informatics partners with APHL, CDC and public health facilities in more than 30 district, regional, national and international public health laboratories to make sure that our informatics software helps you meet industry-standard best practices and guidelines
• Work with a GSA Schedule 70 Certified provider. Abbott Informatics is GSA Schedule 70 certified for Forensics and Public Health. See all our certifications

Collect and Handle Samples Seamlessly

• Collect data on the fly with an Electronic Laboratory Notebook (ELN)
• Prelog samples and provide information about each sample before submission to reduce the staff and time required to accession a sample upon receipt
• Use barcoding and handheld devices to generate sample labels and make specimen tracking easier from mobile devices and on the go

Assure the Quality of Your public health Lab Results 

• Automatically alert analysts and reviewers of QC failures and suspect results
• Configure and create triggers that help your staff navigate a testing and handling pathway defined by your best practices
• Guide users through pre-defined steps that comply with Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), providing appropriate recommendations based on your specifications

Streamline Day-to-Day lab Logistics

• Support HL7, PHL, ICD-9, CPT, LOINC, and SNOMED messages and codes
• Bring together all testing results and supporting documentation, regardless of format, with the STARLIMS Data Capture Utility (DCU)
• Integrate all your lab’s testing, storage and handling systems with a richly featured Scientific Data Management System (SDMS) and Electronic Laboratory Notebook (ELN)

Public Health and Specialty Diagnostic Laboratories

Molecular testing is becoming more affordable and now more mainstream. Even in the Public Health arena molecular assays are becoming the norm, and in the Clinical Diagnostic setting Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) is becoming more prominent for disease profiling. The proliferation of complex molecular testing such as that of NGS in clinical laboratories has led to new requirements and guidelines to be issued by CAP, CLIA, and ACMG. These cover the need for assay validation and the management of sample processing, the data obtained during testing and the release and dissemination of results. 

CAP and CLIA inspectors are starting to familiarize themselves with these guidelines and the recertification process will become more tenuous. Laboratories that have implemented the new requirements and recommendations reduce the risk of having deficiencies found during inspections. Having a LIMS that can demonstrate effective management of these high complexity molecular processes, contributes to the growth and validity of the laboratory.

Manage efficient sample and batch

• Manage molecular protocols, where existing workflows can be used as templates for new protocols, where reference ranges, triggers, reflexes and reporting requirements can be configured
• Support sample and test workflow from start to finish, configure triggers, sample points, re-sample and re-test workflows
• Allow for batch adjustment and multiple batch templates to be used in one complex workflow
• Evaluate sample test results against different sets of specifications and control the progress of the sample or batch through its lifecycle
• Generate worksheet/list, result calculations, and result specifications.
• Link to bioinformatics systems (third-party systems) (internal or external) for data analysis, prior to result reporting

Streamline day-to-day lab logistics

• Direct samples to equipment and workflows based on availability, staff certifications and schedules
• Interface to automated specimen handling systems and analytical instruments via system-to-system communications using a wide variety of protocols such as web services, file transfer (text, CSV, HL7, ASCII, etc.), and direct database communications
• Manage result reporting for single samples moving through multiple laboratories and workflows
• Manage the storage of samples sample storage locations

Manage sample materials and equipment