The current clinical laboratory management and service industry has an annual revenue over $200 billion globally, and the market is expected to reach a staggering $290 billion by 2028.1 This isn’t a small business at all, and the secret behind this massive growth is the growing demand for digital laboratory solutions to enhance laboratory workflow management and streamline complicated laboratory processes.
Despite this rising demand, some evidence suggests that the current adoption of digital laboratory solutions in one of its most profitable growth levers, pathology, particularly for primary diagnosis, is low. This is driven by high implementation costs, the need for digital storage, the need for separate IT personnel, and, unfortunately, most of the time, hesitancy and lack of acceptance among pathologists stemming from unawareness.2
Failure to adopt a digital workflow and its consequences
The failure to adopt digital laboratory solutions leaves pathology labs vulnerable to slower turnaround times (TATs), increased manual errors, and lower productivity, thereby compromising diagnostic quality and patient outcomes. Inefficient processes can increase operational costs, limit scalability, and reduce productivity in a rapidly expanding clinical industry. In the long term, this reluctance risks reputational setbacks and reduced ability to participate in data-driven clinical care.
Consequently, the absence of an integrated digital lab infrastructure sets off a cascade of workflow challenges that become increasingly evident across every stage of pathology laboratory operations, some of which are described below:
Siloed and Fragmented Data
Have you ever imagined how much data a busy pathology lab handles every day in a clinic or a hospital? It is massive, as clinical data gets generated from multiple sources, including patient records, test results, imaging systems, and instruments. Another major talking point in most labs with outdated workflows is the lack of communication between instruments and collaboration among other teams. Most pathology labs operate with multiple isolated instruments, leading to fragmented, siloed data and inefficient productivity. The problem is further aggravated when clinical reports from other departments aren’t readily visible or accessible, slowing down diagnosis and costly delays. Therefore, managing data manually or through legacy workflows can result in serious errors, such as duplication, re-work, and loss of traceability, which ultimately affect the patient’s safety and well-being.
Manual Workflows and Human Errors
Modernization is the need of the day. Many labs still rely on paper-based or semi-digital processes because of a lack of funds to upgrade lab infrastructure or more realistically,a reluctance to overhaul the entire workflow, as such an overhaul would require an extra effort. Whatever the reason, not opting for modernization is costing many pathology labs profits, slower TAT, operational bottlenecks, inefficient scheduling, compromised data integrity and authenticity, reduced scalability, and operational efficiency. To achieve a sizeable return on investment, labs should look beyond manual workflows and focus more on digitizing pathology laboratories to increase operational output and gain an edge.
Sample Tracking, Traceability, and Compliance Issues
Healthcare is a highly regulated field, and dealing with patient health and safety requires compliance with several standards, including NABL, ISO, CLIA, GDPR, and HIPAA. Documentation for traceability, version control, and sample tracking is also critical for any pathology lab, as mislabeling or misplaced samples can jeopardize results and have serious diagnostic consequences. With a legacy system in place, reporting, version control, and end-to-end sample traceability can be a persistent audit and compliance challenge. Therefore, to navigate complex regulatory frameworks, meticulous and digital workflows are becoming increasingly essential for pathology laboratories.
Quality Control (QC) and Standardization
QC serve as critical parameters for any laboratory. Without a streamlined QC process, labs cannot ensure accurate, reliable, and timely testing, which is pivotal for proper diagnoses and treatment. Therefore, maintaining consistent quality across instruments, technicians, and lab results is an important parameter for any laboratory. A streamlined QC process also fosters collaboration among different clinical teams and departments, which is not always the case in many pathology labs with semi-digitized or legacy workflows.
Data Analytics and Reporting Limitations
Without digital systems, especially in an age of data explosion when contextual data matters most, it’s difficult to generate and gain insights into rapid, meaningful clinical diagnosis. This is another challenge that most diagnostic labs, including pathology labs, face currently. With a digital laboratory connecting to a laboratory information management system (LIMS), workflows, semantic and contextual based reporting becomes less complicated.
A Versatile Pathology Lab Management Platform
LabVantage MedicalCare is a versatile clinical laboratory management solution. Its pathology module aims to provide advanced workflow management across histology, cytology, autopsies, and clinical genetics. In addition to histology, LabVantage MedicalCare has built-in tramlines for cytology, and autopsies.
Apart from advanced workflow management capabilities, it offers embedded storage management and tissue bank functionality, consent management, and versatile reporting tools, including digital dictation and speech recognition.
Make your workflow easier and simpler with LabVantage MedicalCare
LabVantage MedicalCare enables the supervision and management of the entire pathology laboratory workflow by:
- Most objects, including blocks and slides, can be uniquely identified with a barcode, making them easy and precise to scan with a barcode reader at any step of the laboratory process. This facilitates workplace- and phase-specific work lists and the effective progress of samples through the laboratory, thereby reducing the TAT.
- Sample requests can be made manually or electronically via integration with external systems, such as EMRs, HISs, web portals, or request form-scanning software.
- It can guide users in sample distribution through requests that cover pathology and integrate with multiple clinical disciplines, such as biochemistry, genetics, or microbiology.
- LabVantage MedicalCare can also integrate with pathology-specific instruments, such as slide stainers and barcode printers, using pre-existing drivers. The system enables workflow automation across Histology from grossing, embedding, and slicing to staining and analysis.
- One of the alluring features of MedicalCare is its support for integration with speech recognition software, macro cameras, digital pathology systems, and LIMS. When utilizing an integrated grossing/macro camera or slide scanner, images are automatically linked in real time to the respective case in the workflow.
- For traceability, it supports a full audit trail with a container-block-slide hierarchy built in. At any stage in the workflow, the user can pull up a comprehensive multidisciplinary patient history, enabling them to make informed decisions. Reporting can be done on paper, via automated e-mail, or through integration with external systems in various formats (XML, ASTM, HL7).
Explore LabVantage’s Unique Solution for Pathology Labs
In summary, the future of pathology is poised for a major shift. Digital technologies and AI-driven tools are now increasingly focused on digital workflows and play a critical role in enhancing diagnostic procedures and laboratory efficiency.3 LabVantage MedicalCare fully supports the emerging field of digital pathology to further streamline workflows and totally digitize pathology processes. LabVantage MedicalCare can integrate with market-leading digital pathology systems, as it seamlessly integrates with the image processing and analysis software of your choice. When coupled with such a system, it becomes a unique digital pathology solution for the pathology lab.
Contact us today to see how LabVantage MedicalCare saves costs, reduces errors, and helps labs perform at the highest levels.
References
- https://www.ligolab.com/post/pathology-lab-software-determining-which-lis-system-is-the-best-fit-for-your-laboratory
- Bessen JL, Alexander M, Foroughi O, et al. Perspectives on Reducing Barriers to the Adoption of Digital and Computational Pathology Technology by Clinical Labs. Diagnostics (Basel). 2025;15(7):794. Published 2025 Mar 21. doi:10.3390/diagnostics15070794.
- Schwen LO, Kiehl TR, Carvalho R, Zerbe N, Homeyer A. Digitization of Pathology Labs: A Review of Lessons Learned. Lab Invest. 2023;103(11):100244. doi:10.1016/j.labinv.2023.100244.
