Six companies tested LAW Profile successfully at Connectathon 2012

2013/02/12

Testing the LAW profile at the IHE Europe Connectathon 2012

With a total of 129 live tests completed on four in vitro diagnostic (IVD) analyzers and three IVD analyzer-data interfaces, an important milestone in interoperability of IVD systems was achieved during the recent five-day connectivity marathon hosted by IHE Europe. The six participants included IICC founding members Abbott Diagnostics, Orchard Software, Roche Diagnostics, Siemens AG and Systelab Technologies, S.A., as well as Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. The successful live testing of the Laboratory Analytical Workflow (LAW) profile is the first step toward reducing the cost and complexity of interfacing IVD systems within the laboratory by enabling IVD systems to “speak the same language” with each other. For the first time, clinical laboratories can realize the flexibility and efficiency of plug-and-play connectivity in their own lab as well as communicate seamlessly with the rest of the healthcare system.

Participants and Test Monitors of the LAW profile at the IHE Europe Connectation 2012

“Moving from the previous standard of a pin-cable serial port to an HL7 interface over TCP/IP creates a better pipeline connection between IVD analyzers and the myriads of health IT systems, making clinical diagnostics data more accessible and better integrated with the rest of the health system,” commented Edwin O. Heierman, PhD, Chief Technology Officer of IICC and Informatics Software Architect, Abbott Diagnostics Division. “This is the culmination of a two-year collaboration among members of the IHE International Laboratory Technical Committee, which includes IICC Technical Team members.”

Orchard Software and Abbott Diagnostics complete first successful test of LAW Profile at IHE Europe Connectathon 2012. From left to right: Bobby Brown, Orchard Software, Jeff Kain, Orchard Software, Dan Nguyen, Abbott Diagnostics, Ed Heierman, Abbott Diagnostics, Rob Bush, Orchard Software.

The next opportunity to demonstrate your organization’s commitment to lab connectivity and see how our industry will contribute to efficiency and cost savings through interoperability of IVD systems is just around the corner. Registration will open in August 2012 for Connectathon 2013 to be held in Chicago on January 30-February 2, 2013. Once again the LAW profile will be tested, and IHE resources are available to help prepare your system for the event. This is an ideal venue for interoperability proof-out. If you are in the pre-product proof-of-concept prototyping phase, interoperability proof-out can guide continuing development. If you are in the product verification and validation phase, you can leverage validated tools and formal test plans with multi-vendor cross testing in a structured environment.