#Epic beaker software

One complication of Epic’s “one patient/one record” standard, which allows appropriately released information to be shared across Epic entities, is that 10 or 11 states, prompted by privacy concerns, require that patients have the opportunity to opt out of global record sharing. It’s all in the patient record, and because it’s highly configurable, pathologists can pick and choose what they want in their view, so they’re only looking at the information that’s relevant to them.” There are no fancy rules to write there’s nothing we have to do to pull it through an interface out of a standalone LIS. “There is an actual snapshot for the pathologist that shows them everything important related to the history of that patient and helps with their interpretation of the case. “This is a view that is available in anatomic pathology because there’s no interface needed between Beaker and the rest of the patient’s medical record,” since the EMR and LIS are integrated. The snapshot report allows the end user to stay in an active resulting window with the ability to read consult notes, op notes from the surgeon, previous histories, clinical pathology results like hematology or microbiology, and so on, for a case. The “snapshot report” feature also illustrates Beaker’s configurability.

#Epic beaker software

By having software that’s highly configurable, you’re less inclined to have difficulty with upgrades and updates as the software matures.”įor example, Dawson says, “From a preanalytic standpoint, for accessioning our specimens, configurability is available and expected by Epic, as opposed to having to write custom rules that run through an HL7 interface in order to put orders into a standalone LIS.” In those cases, your customization has a tendency to break your system.

“Whenever you customize something, you run a risk when there are regular updates to the software. Configurability leads to fewer problems than does customization, she notes. The laboratory chose to implement the LIS in four regional phases, followed by a “big bang” final phase for anatomic pathology.ĭawson cites end user configurability as one of Beaker’s greatest strengths. So “Beaker came in as an application into a well-established, mature EMR system,” said Dawson in an interview with CAP TODAY. The health system has had Excellian EpicCare as its EMR system since 2004. The shift to Beaker has brought enhancements and challenges for Allina Health Laboratory, a Minneapolis-based reference laboratory that serves the Allina Health System, said Heather Dawson, MBA, MT(ASCP), vice president of laboratory services, in a recent talk before laboratory industry leaders.īefore installing Beaker, Allina Health Laboratory used the Triple G LIS, later acquired by General Electric and then Cirdan. As of August 2017, Epic had 375 installations worldwide, 28 of them between August 2016 and August 2017, the company reported in CAP TODAY’s 2017 LIS product guide (see page 37). Increasing numbers of hospital and health care system laboratories, already operating in an Epic environment for their EMR, are casting their lots with integration by choosing Epic’s Beaker for their LIS. Go down the other road and you may acquire a best-of-breed LIS but risk stumbling on the interface with the EMR.

Down here in Dorothy’s Kansas, however, having to weigh an LIS that is part of an enterprisewide solution against a standalone LIS creates a classic quandary for hospital laboratories: Follow one brick road and you may have top-flight integration between the LIS and EMR but possibly less LIS functionality.