title: Integration of a statewide public hospital laboratory system.
abstract: Louisiana operates one of the largest public hospital and clinic systems in the nation, consisting of nine geographically dispersed hospitals, providing a full range of medical care to approximately 1 million low-income and indigent citizens. For many years, these hospitals were under the auspices of the State Department of Hospitals. In 1997, just at the end of a multi-million-dollar procurement project to install laboratory information systems at several of the sites, governance of the nine hospitals was transferred formally to Louisiana State University (LSU) under a new branch, the LSU Health Care Services Division. As a result of Y2K issues at several sites not originally included in the procurement, the LIS installation had to be expanded while facing a very critical implementation deadline. This article describes the procedural and organizational strategies used to successfully accomplish a major project of reorganization and systemic integration of nine geographically distant and disparate public hospital laboratories while simultaneously installing a new networked LIS at all sites within a relatively short span of 3 years.
authors.affiliation: dboudr@LSUHSC.edu
authors.forename: Donald A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Boudreau
authors.forename: W Douglas
authors.initials: WD
authors.lastname: Scheer
authors.forename: Joyce S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Majonos
authors.forename: Frederick W
authors.initials: FW
authors.lastname: Brazda
authors.forename: Jack P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Strong
mesh_terms: D002984:Clinical Laboratory Information Systems; D003625:Data Collection; D006779:Hospitals, Public / Q000458:organization & administration*; D007324:Institutional Management Teams; D007755:Laboratories, Hospital / Q000458:organization & administration*; D007857:Leadership; D008145:Louisiana; D009096:Multi-Institutional Systems / Q000458:organization & administration*; D009936:Organizational Innovation; D013219:State Government