Antek HealthWare's evolving software solutions

Medical Laboratory Observer, April, 2008 by Gary Dixon

Milestones. When I started with the company as the technical support manager, we had approximately 800 laboratory information system (LIS) clients primarily in the physician office laboratory (POL) environment, with 12 support representatives. Last year, we placed our 2,000th installation and now have over 40 support personnel to serve our clients. Once viewed as an LIS for POLs, over the past five years, our LIS software has been completely re-engineered to have the capability of maintaining the increased connectivity needs of the POL as well as clinics, reference labs, small community hospitals, and toxicology labs. We have adapted to the reality of the ever-increasing demand to share data securely with hospital-information, practice-management, and electronic-medical-record systems by devoting an entire department to health level 7 interfacing. Today, our customers benefit from increased rules-based automation, which improves turnaround times, aids in regulatory compliance, and helps improve patient safety by reducing medical errors during all analytic phases of testing.

First-KLAS information. Data from KLAS, a third-party market research firm that derives its acronym from the first initial of each of the founder's names, offers Antek HealthWare access to non-biased feedback of our existing customer base from which we benchmark ourselves against the competition and make focused improvements in our processes, which increases overall client satisfaction. KLAS acts as a consumer report to help guide prospective buyers during the selection process for a new LIS system by comparing and contrasting vendor performance against certain standard criteria.

Improving patient care. We have installed our software in a variety of infectious-disease labs throughout the United States and established connectivity with several health departments to electronically report test results. For example, blood hemoglobin A1C results are used for public-health surveillance and monitoring trends of blood-sugar control in diabetics. Evaluating these trends can be used to proactively plan programs in the area of diabetes prevention and control, and measure outcomes of diabetes care and therapy. We are currently in operation at the U.S. Probation and Pretrial Services System, which carries out probation and pretrial services functions in the U.S. district courts and focuses on chemical-dependence treatment. Our software is serving this national program in 19 states, with all data housed in a central server in order to provide epidemiological data for statistical analysis. Another organization that adopted our LIS software, in an effort to decrease the effects of chemical dependency, is Ready, Willing & Able, which is part of the Doe Fund. This group has helped more than 3,000 men and women become drug-free, secure full-time employment, and obtain their own self-supported housing.

Community efforts. In conjunction with a New Orleans' exhibition, our company donated money to the New Orleans Area Habitat for Humanity to help the post-Katrina rebuilding efforts. At that exhibition, we shed light on the fact that--despite the initial outpouring of support--one year after Katrina, there was still widespread devastation. Our corporate culture embraces and supports the interests of its employees; a number of our employees maintain leadership positions in the community organizations, including the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts of America.

Promoting career opportunities. The most critical element in attracting young people to the medical-laboratory industry is educating them on the important role the laboratory plays in the healthcare field, and on the fact that there is a strong need for individuals to fill these roles. We are a co-sponsor of "A Day Without The Laboratory"--a joint venture between ASCP and ASCLS--to demonstrate the importance of the laboratory's contribution to healthcare, hospital administrators, patients, and physicians. Many of our employees are involved with their alma maters' school career days where they speak about the importance of laboratory sciences and the career opportunities that are available post-graduation. Our company has also sponsored and participated in continuing education courses with CLMA, ASCLS, and COLA, in addition to supplying various organizations with unrestricted educational grants.

By Gary Dixon, Associate Editor

RELATED ARTICLE: Jim Kasoff

Professional

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

President, Antek HealthWare

Formerly Laboratory Administrator, Baltimore Medical Group

Education

BS, Kinesiology, University of Maryland

Personal

Long-distance cycling and swimming.

Spending time with wife and three children.

Presenter of various professional associations' CE workshops.

Author for industry journals; contributing writer to Clinical Lab Product's online, "Ask the Expert."