By Eric Dingfelder, President & CEO 

“The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.” This quote by Winston Churchill could be said to characterize the history of Data Innovations (DI), a history I am honored to continue as its new President and CEO. Over 35 years ago, DI created a space in the healthcare industry as a problem-solver for clinical laboratories, introducing vendor-neutral middleware known as Instrument Manager™. Used by more clinical labs than any other middleware¹, IM enables labs to interface an endless variety and number of lab systems and instruments and manage them through a single rules-based dashboard that improves lab workflows, productivity, and patient care.  

Today, DI offers an entire suite of end-to-end lab enablement solutions centered around Instrument Manager that improve productivity, quality and compliance, while harnessing data and intelligence to improve operations. We call it revolutionizing the lab to transform patient care. As part of this mission, what we are most proud of is our customer-centered focus – to be a partner to clinical labs, not just a vendor. That means understanding your unique challenges and working with you to develop solutions.  

That’s exactly what we did with our first cloud-based product, Lab GPS™. We heard the frustration of lab professionals struggling with downtime as one of the leading hits to productivity.  Lab GPS gives LIS administrators tools to minimize downtime through connectivity monitoring, notifications and troubleshooting that they can perform from anywhere. Our newest release, version 2.2, brings mobile push notifications, more customizable alerts, time zone support, and other enhancements. Users can now configure the push notifications to their phone’s focus or do-not-disturb settings, features that allow for greater convenience and work-life balance for after-hours on-call staff.  

Speaking of lab downtime, we also offer a new service to keep your lab productive if and when lab downtime does occur. Our Lab Downtime Support Service provides hands-on implementation of an Instrument Manager workflow that enables lab orders to be processed when your LIS goes down. This is one of several new services performed by our Technical & Professional Services team that help relieve the strain of common staffing shortages while tooling up your lab to achieve maximum productivity. Other services we have rolled out in the past year include AV Workflow Analysis, AV Workflow Validation, and Supplemental Mapping & Functional Testing Assistance. Visit our Services page for a full list of service offerings.  

Moving forward, we’re excited about bringing other innovative capabilities to lab management. That may mean expanding the playing field for enterprise lab management through more cloud-based solutions. Or it may involve introducing new workflows to accommodate evolving laboratory functions. That was the case with Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, as we worked with them to implement a process for in-house genetic testing, the subject of this edition’s Spotlight section. 

Finally, as your partner in lab performance, if there’s something we can do better or a unique challenge in your lab that needs solving, we want to hear it. We understand that every lab is unique, and by receiving your feedback and ideas, we will continue to find ways to empower your lab further.  

¹ As published in Medical Lab Management Magazine, March 2024.