CAP Today's Product Guide provides some detailed information about the Beaker product that has been supplied by the company itself (see: Epic, Beaker Laboratory Information System (Laboratory information systems 2010) ). I offer below a cut-and-paste of some of the Beaker facts that I found relevant and interesting. Keep in mind, as noted in the second line below, that this information is about six months old and the status of Beaker may have changed in the interval.
Name of laboratory information system: Beaker Laboratory Information System (formerly EpicLab laboratory information system)
First ever/most recent LIS installation (based on August 2010 survey deadline): 1980/April 2010
Total No. of contracts for sites operating LIS: 4
Hospital/Independent lab contracts in U.S.: 3/0
Clinic or group practice contracts in U.S./Public health lab contracts in U.S.: 1/0
Contracts for other U.S. sites/Contracts for foreign sites: 0/0
No. of these contracts that went live between August 2009–August 2010: 1
Contracts signed but LIS not yet operational (hospitals/independent labs/other sites): 76 (75/0/1–public health)
Total No. of contracts (live and not live) signed between August 2009–August 2010: 15
Total No. of sites operating LIS (No. of these sites outside the U.S.): 66 (0)
Percentage of high-volume sites installed/low-volume sites installed: 6%/94%
No. of employees in entire company: 3,848
No. of employees dedicated to LIS development, installation, and support: 51
No. of billed tests generated annually by labs using this LIS: — (no response)
Microbiology/Public health microbiology: 100%/available but not installed
Blood bank donor and transfusion: not available
Surgical pathology/Cytology: available but not installed/available but not installed
Molecular pathology/Cytogenetics: not available/not available
Flow cytometry: available but not installed
HLA (tissue typing)/Stem cell laboratory: available but not installed/not available
Microbiology data (culture and sensitivity): under development
No. of different lab instruments interfaced with LIS: 87 (Data Innovations and others for interface)
I provide below my brief analysis of this information:
Beaker has about a thirty year history dating back to 1980, having evolved from EpicLab which was oriented toward public health labs.
The total number of contracts for lab operating Beaker is only four but this accounts for 66 operating sites. This can be explained by the fact that the contracts were written with health systems many of which encompass multiple hospital labs.
There have been 76 signed contracts for which Beaker is not yet operational. I have a question whether this number is inflated. In other words, does this number represent the total of EMR signed contracts rather than the number of hospitals that have committed to install Beaker.
Only 6% of the installed Beaker sites are described as high volume.
Epic chose not to respond to the query about the number of billed tests generated annually by labs using Beaker. I suspect that this number would have been forthcoming had it been large.
Only 51 of the 3,848 Epic employees are dedicated to Beaker development, installation, and support. I have done the math for you and it's 1.3% of employees.
Lab modules available but not installed: microbiology, surgical pathology/cytology, flow cytometry, HLA (tissue typing).
Lab module under development: microbiology culture and sensitivity,
Lab modules not available: blood bank donor and transfusion, molecular pathology and cytogenetics.
I have published previous notes about Epic's Beaker LIS (see: Introducing the Epic Laboratory Information System (LIS); It's Called Beaker ; An Update on Epic's LIS, Called Beaker, from HIStalk ; More Information about Epic's Beaker LIS and Its Sibling ). Because of the popularity of the Epic EMR, extensive pressure is being placed on pathology departments to install Beaker as a component of the enterprise solution that Epic offers and many CIOs seem to lust after (see: Why Does Epic Keep Hammering Cerner? Mr. HIStalk's Opinion ; Are You an Enterprise or Best-of-Breed CIO? Access to Cash May Make the Difference ). It's important for pathology personnel to understand the relative immaturity of this product and that key components are lacking (see: Assessing the True Cost of Serving as a Beta Test Site for the Beaker LIS ).
CAP Today's Product Guide provides some detailed information about the Beaker product that has been supplied by the company itself (see: Epic, Beaker Laboratory Information System (Laboratory information systems 2010) ). I offer below a cut-and-paste of some of the Beaker facts that I found relevant and interesting. Keep in mind, as noted in the second line below, that this information is about six months old and the status of Beaker may have changed in the interval.
I provide below my brief analysis of this information: