ABSTRACT
An ambulatory care center was baffled by rising laboratory costs and erroneous laboratory test results. The center had hoped implementing an electronic interface between its electronic health record (EHR) and its off-site laboratory would decrease costs and errors. However, even after the implementation of the EHR, the center found that costs and errors were growing each day. After implementing the laboratory interface, the ambulatory care center hired a physician informaticist to assist. The physician soon discovered many errors in the setup of the EHR orders screen and the laboratory interface mapping. While electronic automation of processes can increase efficiency, in this case it also quickly multiplied errors with serious clinical, operational, and financial consequences. The ambulatory care center created automated processes without a qualified subject matter expert, resulting in significant data integration errors.
