Request for Proposals: Using Electronic Data Standards to Communicate Laboratory Orders

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Request for Proposals: Using Electronic Data Standards to Communicate Laboratory Orders

Deadline Extended to Friday, January 20, 2012

Lab orders and results are often sent by fax or mail. CHCF has allocated $300,000 to implement and test electronic data exchange using the ELINCS Orders specification. Proposals were due January 20.

December 2011

SPECIAL NOTICE: Due to recent difficulties with CHCF's email server, applications submitted on Tuesday, January 17 may not have been received. The deadline to respond to the RFP has been extended. Respondents should re-send application materials to ensure they are properly received or otherwise confirm with CHCF that your application was received. Applications were due no later than 5:00 PM PST on Friday, January 20.

In today's fragmented health care delivery system, lab orders and results are often sent by fax or mail, leaving physicians challenged to make decisions without complete and timely medical data.

In 2005, CHCF, in collaboration with national health care organizations and on behalf of the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, created the EHR-Lab Interoperability and Connectivity Specification (ELINCS). Its purpose is to standardize real-time transmission of laboratory results from lab information systems to ambulatory clinical information systems. Today, ELINCS is an HL7-approved specification supported by clinical laboratories and leading health IT vendors.

Building on its prior work, CHCF collaborated with others to create a standard specification for the real-time transmission of laboratory orders from ambulatory electronic health records (EHRs) to lab information systems. This new standard, ELINCS Orders, is compliant with HL7 version 2.5.1 and designed to complement the current ELINCS HL7-R1 specification for reporting of lab results.

Under this request for proposals (RFP), CHCF has allocated up to $300,000 to implement and test the exchange of laboratory orders using ELINCS Orders. This initiative will provide technical assistance and award six to eight grants.

At the end of the grant period, CHCF expects participating organizations to have fully implemented ELINCS Orders and to be delivering real-time electronic lab orders from ambulatory EHRs to lab information systems. More importantly, CHCF expects to demonstrate the impact of the real-time communication of lab data on patient care processes, and ideally, on clinical outcomes.

Applications were due no later than 5:00 PM PST on January 20, 2012.

The complete RFP is available as a Document Download. Also below are a video and slides from the December 19 informational webinar.