At HealthLink’s recent eLab roadshow, Erik Jacobsen (CEO of Danish Medical Data Distribution or DMDD) shared the numerous benefits Denmark has enjoyed since scrapping its paper-based system in favour of electronic pathology ordering eight years ago.
DMDD’s WebReq service enables fast and accurate capture of information directly from a GP’s practice management system/EMR into a laboratory information system (LIS). Denmark is the world’s most advanced ePathology environment, with 80 labs using 13 different LIS systems and all GPs embracing WebReq. HealthLink has worked with DMDD to make WebReq available in New Zealand under the eLab brand and it has launched successfully at Aotea Pathology in Wellington. eLab will be available in Australia in the near future.
Key Points from Erik’s Presentation:
- Mislabelling of lab test orders has been reduced by 209,000 instances per year
- Incomplete/illegible forms have been reduced from 325,000 to 91,000 cases annually
- Unnecessary manual lab registrations have been eliminated, saving 32,500 man hours per year
- Manual admin at lab reception has been reduced saving over 43,000 work hours per annum
- What ePathology requirements patients, doctors, labs, hospitals and government have
- How WebReq has been fully financed by savings from pre-printed paper forms
Here are the slides from Erik’s presentation:
You can also read eHealthspace.org’s article on the Danish experience of ePathology.