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A laboratory information system (LIS) is a software system that records, manages, and stores data for clinical [laboratory|laboratories]]. A LIS has traditionally been most adept at sending laboratory test orders to lab instruments, tracking those orders, and then recording the results, typically to a searchable database. The standard LIS has supported the operations of public health institutions (like hospitals and clinics) and their associated labs by managing and reporting critical data concerning "the status of infection, immunology, and care and treatment status of patients."

There is often confusion regarding the difference between a laboratory information system (LIS) and a laboratory information management system (LIMS). While the two laboratory informatics components are related, their purposes diverged early in their existences. Up until recently, LIMS and LIS have exhibited a few key differences, such as a LIS being designed primarily for processing and reporting data related to individual patients in a clinical setting, with a LIMS being traditionally designed to process and report data related to batches of samples from drug trials, water treatment facilities, and other entities that handle complex batches of data. However, distinctions between the two systems have faded somewhat as some LIMS vendors have adopted the case-centric information management normally reserved for a LIS, blurring the lines between the two components further. (Full article...)

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