If you’re a diagnostic laboratory looking to go digital, then you’ve almost certainly thought about how your platform will integrate with your LIS. We sat down with Jacob Blaylock, our Senior Integration Engineer, and Jamie Kenny, our LIS Interface Engineer, to answer some of the most common questions they get when it comes to Concentriq. From managing multiple LIS systems to supporting phased rollouts, here’s what they had to say.
How do annotations, AI results, or measurements from Concentriq flow back to the LIS? Is it a true two-way interface?
Jacob Blaylock: Annotations and measurements flow back to the LIS in the form of snapshots. While we could, in theory, send annotation and measurement data back to the LIS directly, it typically wouldn’t have much meaning without the context of the image. As an example, a pathologist might make an annotation on an image and take a snapshot of the image including the annotated area. This snapshot is then sent back to the LIS as a base64 encoded string so that it can be viewed in the LIS and potentially included in the diagnostic report.
AI results can be sent back in a couple of ways depending on the AI analysis being performed. The visual overlay provided by some AI analysis can be included in a snapshot just like annotations or measurements; however, if there are discrete results, those can be sent back to the LIS in a structured format so they can be easily referenced and/or included in the diagnostic report. Some pathologists review the AI analysis in Concentriq, optionally take any desired snapshots, and then mark the case as complete in Concentriq, which triggers the snapshot and discrete AI analysis data for each slide to be sent back to the LIS and included automatically on the diagnostic report without any manual intervention.
How do you handle multiple LIS systems across hospitals—can Concentriq use prefixes or other rules to keep cases separate?
JB: Concentriq is equipped to handle multiple LIS systems across hospitals, whether they are distinct instances of the same LIS, or from different vendors entirely. The fact that they may use different LIS systems isn’t an issue at all. Each case is associated with a laboratory site, so each LIS instance across hospitals would be assigned a designated laboratory site. Case uniqueness is required within each laboratory site. Should multiple hospitals have the same case number, that would be allowed and siloed appropriately as long as each is assigned to a separate site. Users also are granted permission at a laboratory site level, so they can be set up to only view cases for specific locations.
Jamie Kenny: Adding to the above, our integration engine is designed to support complex, multi-LIS environments. It can apply routing logic based on hospital-specific prefixes, site codes, or LIS metadata fields. This ensures that each case is tagged, managed, and presented within the correct institutional context, enabling centralized operations without data collisions across hospital systems.
Who manages updates if the LIS version changes? Does the LIS connector need retesting each time?
JK: We manage integration lifecycle support through our integration engine. If your LIS version changes, our connector is retested and validated for continued compatibility. Any necessary adjustments—such as schema updates or API adaptations—are handled as part of our maintenance and support program, without triggering new integration fees.
Can we start with a barcode-only setup and add full bidirectional LIS integration later? What’s involved in that?
JB: Yes, that is absolutely an option and is an approach we see a lot of clients take that want to get up and running with digital as soon as possible. We can set up a barcode-only integration, which means using just the information provided in the barcode to assemble the case in Concentriq. This typically consists of the case number, part, block, and slide identifiers, but can also include patient or stain information or any other details you want to include in the barcode
Once the customer and its LIS vendor are ready, we can then implement a full LIS integration to bring in all of the desired patient, case, and slide information and add bi-directionality to pass data from Concentriq back to the LIS as needed. We even have some customers that have both a barcode-only integration and a full LIS integration in place simultaneously to fit different use cases.
Can the LIS integration automatically assign cases based on specimen type or metadata from the LIS?
JK: Yes, automatic case assignment is supported. The integration engine can interpret LIS metadata—including specimen type, stain, priority level, or department tags—to assign cases dynamically within Concentriq. This enables intelligent case routing and workload balancing across subspecialty teams or individual users.
Do you support contextual launch, where clicking a case in the LIS automatically opens it in the viewer?
JK: Yes, we support full contextual launch. A case selected in the LIS can open directly in the Concentriq viewer via a secure, tokenized launch URL. This provides immediate access to the case’s images and metadata, reducing friction and supporting a tightly integrated user experience across systems.
