Starlims has announced an expansion to its original contract with the public health agency of a major US city.
The agreement provides an enterprise license for all of the agency's divisions, extending Starlims to the city's health providers to streamline specimen registration, tracking and reporting.
The original agreement of May 2009 provided Starlims licensing for two of the agency's four public health divisions, while the extended agreement covers all four divisions, including accelerated deployment in the divisions of microbiology, virology and immunology.
The agency's laboratories are responsible for testing more than 400,000 specimens annually.
Starlims said one of the drivers for this expansion was Starlims's success helping public health agencies to meet the challenges of H1N1 influenza.
Starlims has proven success collaborating with public health partners in H1N1 response, partnering closely with agencies such as the Louisiana Office of Public Health, the Wyoming Department of Health, the Tennessee Department of Health and the San Diego County Public Health Department.
In a related initiative, Starlims is helping develop a standard influenza testing module, as a major component of the Laboratory Response Network for Bioterrorism (LRNB) of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
This collaboration involves not only the CDC and Starlims, but also state public health agencies in Indiana, California and Illinois.
Starlims public health solutions provide the infrastructure for timely sharing of laboratory information among state and federal public health agencies - which is crucial for effective response to emerging public health threats, including outbreaks of infectious diseases.
Starlims fully supports the guidelines set forth by the CDC and the US Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL).
Starlims's enterprise-level information system brings together all public health laboratory activities into a single platform, offering reporting, surveillance and networking capabilities.
Advanced web-based capabilities are enhanced by specialised tools and wizards, resulting in flexible solutions that enable public health labs to manage large amounts of data while also meeting stringent accreditation requirements.
