PathCentral releases APLIS platform to serve the needs of community pathologist

May 20 2013

PathCentral (www.pathcentral.net), a technology-enabled company dedicated to the success of the pathology community, today introduced AP Anywhere^®, its bundled Anatomic Pathology Laboratory Information System (APLIS) technology offering. AP Anywhere is a web-based anatomic pathology LIS technology solution that integrates all of the critical components of a pathologist's day-to-day operation, including test ordering, laboratory workflow management, transcription, reporting, billing, and financial management within one single, easy-to-use electronic platform.

“Our AP Anywhere APLIS platform was designed from the ground up to serve the needs of the community pathologist”

"Our AP Anywhere APLIS platform was designed from the ground up to serve the needs of the community pathologist," said Jaye Connolly, CEO of PathCentral. "Independent pathology practices face daunting challenges in today's rapidly changing healthcare environment, among them rising costs, declining reimbursement, increasing competition, and growing regulation. AP Anywhere delivers a streamlined, web-based APLIS solution - developed and refined over the past 13 years - that offers customers significant advantages over traditional 'on-premises' LIS systems."

To help keep pace with the constantly evolving demands placed on 21^st Century diagnostic practices, AP Anywhere provides PathCentral's pathology clients with the tools they need to increase revenues, improve operating efficiencies, ensure patient safety, and become highly competitive in their local markets. The system is designed to help users to spend more time signing out cases and less time dealing with operational issues, enabling them to focus on profit generation, while lowering expenses.

AP Anywhere Core Offerings

PathCentral's AP Anywhere platform consists of a state-of-the-art suite of advanced features:

• Improved Workflow
  PathCentral's AP Anywhere APLIS software seamlessly integrates all of the critical components of a pathology practice's day-to-day operations, tying together workflow steps that are more typically managed as "functional silos." This integration dramatically improves efficiency and productivity and increases diagnostic accuracy.

• Increased Connectivity
  As the healthcare sector taps increasingly sophisticated technology tools and protocols, pathologists are being challenged to adopt innovative technology solutions to manage and share information in an organized and coordinated manner. PathCentral's AP Anywhere features the very latest in healthcare IT, including an "open web service layer," which enables the system to easily and seamlessly connect with hospitals, doctors' offices, billing software, cancer registries, and a wide variety of laboratory instrumentation. This ease-of-connectivity has become essential to community pathologists, with ever-increasing federal mandates to comply with healthcare information sharing requirements and the rapid pace of electronic medical records (EMR) adoption.

• Scalability
  AP Anywhere is built on proven technology, used successfully in the field for more than 13 years by large, high-volume commercial reference laboratories. Even the busiest community pathology practice is unlikely to outgrow the system, which was created to scale as practices grow.

• Portability
  With traditional on-premises software solutions, pathologists must be connected to their APLIS either through their facility's internal network, or via an expensive and site-specific virtual private network (VPN) connection. With PathCentral's web computing model, a pathologist can access the system, check on the status of a case, and even generate and send a final patient report, from virtually anywhere in the world, using mobile communications devices, such as laptop computers, tablets and smartphones.

• HIPAA-Compliant, Secure Computing
  The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) mandates that all healthcare data remain private and secure. PathCentral's AP Anywhere is automated, auditable, and highly secure, enabling all users to remain in full compliance with these regulations at all times. The system is fully encrypted (128 bit) and uses an SSL certificate. The application requires each user to have a unique username and password to access the system and there is a complete audit trail of all user activity, ensuring that each and every action is monitored and recorded.

• Affordably Priced
  Unlike costly and complex on-premise software and hardware installations, with AP Anywhere, there is no software or hardware to purchase. Customers simply pay an affordable monthly subscription fee to receive unlimited access to a state-of-the-art enterprise pathology system, along with 24/7/365 service, support and maintenance. In addition, all AP Anywhere users receive free software version upgrades for the life of the product.

• Pathology Network Integration
  AP Anywhere offers an integrated digital pathology solution for use by pathology consultants on PathCentral's recently launched web-based online network - the PathCentral Pathology Network (www.pathcentralpro.net). Operating as a true virtual marketplace, the network connects pathology professionals around the world, enabling true peer-to-peer sharing of high resolution whole-slide images and making it possible for members to provide remote diagnostic consultation, share industry news, collaborate on difficult clinical cases, solicit second with the simple click of a computer mouse, and market a wide array of pathology-related products and services.

SOURCE PathCentral