Medisupport AG, Switzerland

Switzerland’s diversity in one network: Regional laboratories using coordinated IT and analytics in a laboratory network

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Multilingualism, cultural diversity and regionally diversified administrative structures are a given condition in Switzerland. Providers of health services have to meet these regional challenges – with flexibility and customised solutions. Medisupport – the Swiss network of regional laboratories – shows how this can be done.

When Medisupport AG needed a laboratory information system (LIS), Clinisys GLIMS was selected in 2007: „We were looking for a system that could adapt to a rapidly growing company,“ says Francis Perrelet, Director of Informatics at Medisupport. „It was essential that we had a flexible solution that enabled us to accommodate all our needs and allowed us to be as independent as possible. The most important requirements for an LIS were therefore flexibility and extensive functionalities, which are still helping us to manage our laboratory work today. Despite the flexibility of GLIMS through the MISPL language, security and upgrades to new versions were and are always guaranteed.“

With Clinisys GLIMS as a complete solution, the laboratory network has a powerful LIS aenabling all processes to be set up and automated as desired. In combination with Clinisys CyberLab, the web-based communication platform for order entry and result consultation, the wide range of requirements can be met.

Today, after almost 16 years of use, the fast-growing company, now with 30 locations, is still benefitting from the use of Clinisys solutions. This is due to the product being constantly evolved during this time it still meets our customer’s needs: „The system is stable and allows extremely fine customisation, with a great deal of autonomy to develop it in the directions we want,“ says Francis Perrelet. Despite this highly customised configuration, updates are regularly applied with little effort allowing our client to always use the latest version of Clinisys GLIMS.

The installation of new updates and releases has become a process that is largely routine: „We update our system every year. The process is of course complex, considering how important this production system is.“ For example, at the end of August 2023, GLIMS CyberLab version 9.13.12 was updated to version 2022.2.3. At the same time, Medisupport also upgraded from an Oracle 12C database to an Oracle 19C database with Transparent Database Encryption on the new servers.

„Every update brings some difficulties, but if it is organised properly with the Clinisys team, it runs satisfactorily every year,“ Francis Perrelet states. Of course, after an update, routine testing may identify the occasional issue, but the accessibility of the Clinisys service and support team ensures that these are resolved quicky and efficiently. Thanks to the autonomous way of working on the customer’s side and the know-how acquired over the years, the online connection of medical devices via customised interfaces succeeds without any problems.

Above all, it is factors such as flexibility, extensive functionality, stability, traceability and security that still convince the IT director of Medisupport, of the advantages of Clinisys GLIMS in connection with Clinisys CyberLab. By using GLIMS, he says, the benefits for the company are time savings, cost reduction and better monitoring of laboratory activities and processes. In addition, the intuitive nature of CyberLab simplifies its use for customers and requesters leading to further reduction in human errors. The ability of issuing multilingual reports with GLIMS and CyberLab is a real strength.

And what is your view of the future, Mr. Perrelet? „The Swiss laboratory market will probably continue to rationalise (this is a direction the Swiss government is aiming for). The number of players will therefore probably decrease, but the size of each player will probably increase.“ LIS suppliers should deliver systems whose functional scope is particularly large and includes all requirements demanded by local laws, such as security, data protection, etc.. In the near future, it will be necessary to focus on cyber security, AI support and cloud solutions.

Mr. Perrelet strongly advises his colleagues to visit reference laboratories in order to gain an insight into the range of functions, workflows, process optimisation, etc. before purchasing a new LIS. Choosing a stable, innovative and proven LIS provider who supports customers strategically and in the long term is the right way to go.