A state-wide public health department in the US has selected Starlims web-based software to manage its laboratory informatics needs.
The contract, valued at approximately $1.2m, includes licences for the company's software, first-year maintenance and professional services.
With this implementation, 20 of the 50 states in the US will use Starlims's public health laboratory information management systems.
Starlims will be used to manage information relating to clinical and environmental testing across the state, replacing existing commercial and custom systems and ensuring adherence to workflows and standard operating procedures.
Developed over years of close collaboration with the US Public Health Information Network (PHIN), Starlims provides the infrastructure for timely sharing of laboratory information among state and federal public health agencies - crucial for effective response to emerging public health threats, including outbreaks of infectious disease.
Starlims also documents all phases of laboratory testing, and provides a complete and accurate audit trail of all testing and reporting activities, aiding compliance with standards defined by agencies such as the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the US Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL).
As a result of Starlims's entirely web-based architecture, data will be easily accessible via a standard web browser from any of the state's three public health laboratory facilities.
Departmental staff and authorised outside stakeholders, such as staff at hospitals, health departments and clinics, will be able to access information.
Starlims will ease electronic data transfer throughout the state-wide department of public health, and to other systems operated by the CDC, US EPA and other federal agencies.
