What is a laboratory information system?
A laboratory information system, or LIS, is the software a clinical laboratory runs on. It registers the patient, creates the order, labels the sample, receives results from analyzers, holds them until someone verifies them, prints or sends the report, and bills for the work. Everything the laboratory does between a request arriving and a report leaving passes through it.
What is a laboratory information system?
A laboratory information system, or LIS, is the software a clinical laboratory runs on. It registers patients, tracks every sample by barcode, receives analyzer results electronically, records who verified each result, prints or sends the report with reference ranges and units, and bills for the work. SamLab is an offline-first LIS that keeps doing all that through an internet outage.
| What the LIS holds | Why it matters | |
|---|---|---|
| Patient and order | Identity, referring clinician, tests requested, containers needed | Every result traces back to a person and a request |
| Sample | A barcode per tube; collection, receipt and every hand-off | Custody from the bench to the report |
| Analyzer results | Received electronically over ASTM, HL7 or a serial link | No transcription from printouts |
| Quality control | QC runs per analyzer, plotted over time | Drift is visible before it reaches a patient |
| Verification | Who released each result, and when | The identity an assessor asks for first |
| Report | Reference ranges, units, flags, verifier name | The document the clinician acts on |
| Billing | Invoice, receipt, ledgers for clinicians and insurers | The laboratory is also a business |
What a LIS does, step by step
The useful way to understand a LIS is not as a list of features but as a record. Registration and ordering capture the patient, the referring clinician and the tests requested. Sample tracking puts a barcode on every tube and records collection, receipt in the laboratory and every hand-off in between. Analyzer interfacing brings results in from the instrument electronically rather than typed from a printout.
Quality control records internal QC runs against each analyzer and plots them so a drift is visible before it reaches a patient. Verification is a qualified person reviewing each result against reference ranges and flags and releasing it, with their identity recorded. Reporting prints or sends the document with reference ranges, units, flags and the verifier’s name. Billing produces the invoice and keeps the ledgers for referring clinicians, insurers or corporate clients.
LIS or LIMS?
The two acronyms are used interchangeably and mean different things. A LIS is built around a patient: every sample and result belongs to a person and a clinician. A LIMS is built around a sample, batch or lot: a water utility, a pharmaceutical quality-control laboratory or a food laboratory tests whether a batch meets a specification. A clinical laboratory needs a LIS.
What an assessor expects a LIS to record
Accreditation to ISO 15189, and the national schemes built on it, is granted to the laboratory, never to its software. But the assessor’s questions land on the LIS, because the LIS is where the answers live. The records that come up in almost every assessment are the same everywhere: reference ranges with units, held per test and per age and sex band; the identity of the person who verified each result and when; a retained history of amendments with the earlier value; traceability from the sample on the bench back to the patient and forward to the report; internal QC per analyzer with the acceptance rule applied; and separate timestamps for collection, receipt and reporting.
Cloud, desktop, or both
A browser-only LIS stops when the internet does. That is a reasonable trade in a hospital with redundant links and a poor one in a laboratory where the line drops weekly. An offline-first LIS runs from a local database on the laboratory’s own machine and synchronises to the cloud when the connection returns, so the front desk and the bench keep working through an outage. Neither is right for every laboratory; the question is what happens in your building when the connection fails.
How to choose one
Bring the exact make and model of every analyzer you own and ask for written confirmation that each connects. Ask what happens when the internet stops. Ask how you would export your data if you left. Ask for the price in writing, and build the three-year number including interfaces, training and any per-user charge. A vendor who cannot answer those four before a sales call has answered them anyway.
What does LIS stand for?+
Laboratory information system. It is the software a clinical laboratory uses to register patients, track samples, receive analyzer results, verify and report them, and bill for the work.
Is a LIS the same as a LIMS?+
No. A LIS is built around a patient and produces a clinical report; a LIMS is built around a sample or batch and produces a test report or certificate of analysis. Clinical laboratories use a LIS; testing, research and manufacturing laboratories use a LIMS.
Does a small laboratory need a LIS?+
Once a laboratory has an analyzer on the bench and an assessor to satisfy, yes. Typing results from printouts and keeping QC in a spreadsheet works until the first amendment nobody can trace.
Can a LIS be accredited?+
No. Accreditation is granted to the laboratory. A LIS supports accreditation by producing the records the assessor asks for; a vendor claiming its software is itself accredited has misunderstood the scheme.
SamLab is a LIS for independent and hospital-attached clinical laboratories: offline-first, with analyzer interfacing, built-in QC and published prices.
See what it does →